


the Other Side of Nowhere

by cosmiqueer



Category: Minecraft: Story Mode - Fandom
Genre: Adventure, Aidesse, F/M, Lukden, MCSM - Freeform, Minecraft, Portals, aidesse rules fight me, aidkas, i am going to die and it's going to be because of this story, owo spooky villain, portal network
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:07:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 27,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23567314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmiqueer/pseuds/cosmiqueer
Summary: After the events of Sky City, Aiden and Jesse expected to never see each other again.They were wrong.Fate and chance toss them into a crazy quest through the Portal Network, where there’s allies to make, old friends to meet, mysteries to solve, feelings to sort out, and a bad guy to catch before they can get home and go their separate ways…if they’ll still want to by the end.
Relationships: Aiden/Jesse (Minecraft), Harper/Ivor (Minecraft)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 22





	1. Jesse

**Author's Note:**

> this is set BEFORE season 2!

The sun is just beginning to leave the horizon as I wrench my sword free of the last zombie, letting the monster _poof_ into nothingness on the ground. I can’t resist a little smile of triumph as I tuck my sword back into my inventory.

This is going to be a good day. 

Most people probably wouldn’t consider spending an hour or so fighting off mobs a good start to _any_ day, but I do. It’s part of my routine now- patrolling the outskirts of Beacontown just before dawn, making sure any monsters left over from the previous night don’t get close enough to be a danger to anyone.

It’s a solo task, unfortunately, since it’s very rare that one of my friends is willing to get up early enough to help, but it’s part of my job as the protector of the town, and I welcome it.

As the beginnings of warm sunlight touch my face, I turn away, heading back into Beacontown. The town will be rising soon, everyone else getting up and ready to start their day. But for now, the streets are empty, the dawn light gradually stretching over the rooftops. 

Nothing in this little town stays normal for long. It’s been a just barely over six months since Petra, Lukas, and I returned from our adventure in the Portal Network, but plenty of things have cropped up since then. The town is growing, surely but steadily, and with new changes come new problems.

Of course, we as the New Order have gotten wrapped up in enough of our own problems. I’m not saying that we go _looking_ for trouble, but we certainly get into enough of it.

Not today, though. The past few weeks have been calm, and I’m determined to keep things that way for as long as I can.

Wishful thinking? Maybe. But that’s never stopped me from trying before.

I can hear my friends’ voices as soon as I step inside the house I share with the rest of the New Order. It’s a bigger place than I’m used to, but with five people living there, sometimes I’m not sure it’s big _enough_.

From the sound of it, Olivia and Petra are already gearing up for an argument, and I follow their voices to the kitchen.

“I’m just asking for you to look where you’re going. It’s not that hard.”

“I said I was sorry, alright? We don’t have to make this a big deal!”

Leaning into the room, I see Petra slouched against the counter, sipping a mug of coffee and glaring halfheartedly. Olivia’s seated at the small table with a notebook open in front of her, and Axel appears to be in the process of making breakfast. He’s the only one who doesn’t seem grumpy, and grins at me when I walk in. “Hey, Jesse.”

“Morning. What’s going on?” I ask, aiming the question at Olivia.

She sighs. “Nothing. Petra just made a mess of one of my Redstone experiments, one that I was _hoping_ to have done today.”

Petra mutters something under her breath, and Olivia cuts a glare at her. Evidently deciding to try to alleviate the tension, Axel glances at me again to ask, “How was your patrol?”

“Fine. Just had to deal with a couple zombies and skeletons- nothing too bad. You guys should join me sometime, it’s actually really nice to be out before the town gets moving.” I offer, pulling out a chair and joining Olivia at the table.

Making a face, she replies with, “Getting up extra early just to _fight things_? I think I’ll pass.”

Axel laughs. “You’re no fun. What’s the point of getting up at all if you’re not going to fight things?”

“Says the guy who’s only decided to help me _twice_ in the past four months!” I prod good-naturedly. We all spend a lot of time making fun of each other, but it’s all part of our friendship. Our ascension to ‘world-renowned heroes’ has changed some things, but not everything. “I take it Lukas isn’t up yet?”

“Nah. I think he was up late again last night.” Petra says, setting her cup down on the counter. “He and I were thinking about going on a mining trip today. Communal supply depot’s getting a little low on coal and whatnot, so I offered to go get more. Plus, he wants more flint for making arrows.”

I nod. “Good idea. Liv, what do you have going on today?”

She taps her notebook and says, “I wanted to adjust the lighting system in the treasure hall a bit. I was hoping Lukas could help me, but if he’s going with Petra…maybe you could?” 

“Sure. I don’t have anything planned.”

“Me neither, though I doubt I’d be much help to you guys.” Axel says. He sets a plate of scrambled eggs and toast in front of Olivia, and asks me, “You want any?”

I shake my head. “Not hungry yet. Maybe in a bit.”

He shrugs, and sits down with his own plate. Axel’s easily the best cook of us, though Lukas and I aren’t bad. Olivia doesn’t have much in the way of kitchen skills, and Petra doesn’t even try. Knowing her, though, that might be for the better.

“Does anyone else find it low-key suspicious how calm it’s been lately?” Petra asks. “Seems like it’s been awhile since anything’s blown up in our faces.”

Olivia groans. “Oh, don’t jinx it. Please.”

“No, I was thinking the same thing yesterday.” Axel contributes around a mouthful of toast. “We should plan another adventure soon, maybe something a little further from Beacontown. It’d be neat to really get _out there_ , y’know?”

I prop one elbow up on the table, leaning my chin on my hand. “Yeah…but I really don’t like all of us being gone for too long. It just feels like inviting trouble.”

Petra laughs, picking up her coffee again. “Come on, Jesse. You know by now that if trouble wants to cross our path, it won’t wait for an invitation. I’m with you, big guy. Let’s get into messes of our own before something decides to do it for us.”

“Without Ivor around, it might be harder to find a good temple or something.” Olivia muses. She has a point. He did leave us several maps and notes and whatnot before he left for Crown Mesa, but it’s not as simple as just asking him anymore.

“Well, then that’s what I’ll do today. I can glance through Ivor’s notes and stuff, and find us a cool temple to raid or something. Then when you guys are done mining and fixing lights or whatever, we can prepare and form a plan and all that.” Axel says, sounding excited.

I grin. “You must be really desperate for an adventure if you’re willing to do research.” I note, and he laughs.

“Yeah, I guess so.” 

After breakfast, Olivia and I head immediately over to the Hall. She tries describing the changes she wants to make, but I’m only partially listening. I understand Redstone well enough to help her, but not enough to follow perfectly along with what she’s saying.

We’re just walking towards the entrance when I stop dead. “Hold on. Is it…why is the door open?”

“Holy- it _is_. What the hell?” Olivia exclaims, quickening her pace. The Hall is _always_ kept closed at night, and usually locked. But now the large doors stand ever so slightly open, just wide enough for someone to slip inside.

“Who was the last one in here?” I ask, trying to remember if I’d gone in at all yesterday.

Olivia hesitates, thinking. “Lukas, I think. Yeah, it was him- I remember him saying there was a book he wanted from the library. But he wouldn’t just leave the doors like this.”

Neither of us say it, but I know we’re thinking the same thing- _someone broke in_.

I carefully push the doors open wider, stepping cautiously inside. Olivia reaches for the lever to turn on the main lights, but I shake my head vehemently. If the intruder is still here, I’d rather take them by surprise.

My first instinct is to go to the treasure room. Sure enough, the entrance is wide open, though the lights are still off.

“How the hell did they get in? This place is supposed to be locked! None of us are that irresponsible, right?” Olivia whispers to me. I just shake my head, scanning the room. There’s plenty of light streaming in from the large windows, and at first I don’t notice anything out of place.

Then I see it, and my breath hitches.

The Atlas is gone.

I grab Olivia’s arm, and point to the empty pedestal. After his little solo journey through the Network, Ivor had returned both the mystical book and the enchanted flint-and-steel before leaving for Crown Mesa. Aside from him, only the rest of the New Order and I know what the Atlas is, so there wouldn’t be much motive for anyone in Beacontown to steal it.

So…who took it? And why?

The little hairs raise on the back of my neck. There’s something off here, I just _know_ it.

“Jesse-!”

Olivia shouts a warning, and I turn just in time to avoid what would surely be a solid blow to the head from the intruder. I gasp in shock, ducking away from them. Where had they been hiding?!

There’s no time to react. They move incredibly fast, whirling around to deliver a brutal kick to Olivia’s side. She goes down with a shout of pain, and they turn to face me again.

They’re completely clad in black, as far as I can tell. A hooded cloak hides most of their body, and a black cloth mask disguises their mouth and nose. I barely get a glimpse of piercing purple eyes before they lunge at me, pulling back a fist.

I grab their arm, deflecting the punch. Whoever they are, they’re _strong_ , and I can’t hang on as they nimbly twist away. I don’t even have enough time to reach for my sword before they attack again, slamming a fist into my side.

I grit my teeth, glad I hadn’t taken my armour off after returning from the patrol. I kick at their knees, but they dodge my attempts. I’m still shaken up from the idea of being attacked in my own treasure hall, and the surprise is throwing me off a bit.

“What do you want from me?” I snap.

“I already have what I want.” they reply smoothly. I _think_ their voice is male, but I’m not sure. What I _am_ certain of is that I’ve never heard it before.

I spend just a second too long considering this. They don’t hesitate to drive their elbow into my stomach, then land another hard blow to my head as I collapse. I end up sprawled on my side, trying to regain the breath they knocked out of me.

Olivia is at my side in a moment, helping me sit up as I gasp shallowly. I’ve gotten injured all sorts of fun ways in my time as a hero, but I _hate_ getting the wind knocked out of me. Not being able to breathe is the decided worst, and I find myself glaring at the floor as I gradually regain my ability to talk.

“Where…did they go…” I ask, rubbing my head.

“They ran. Probably going to get out of town as quick as they can.” Olivia tells me as she helps me stand.

I square my shoulders and brush her aside. “I need to go after them. _Now_.” Thieves are _not_ to be tolerated in Beacontown, especially not if they try to make off with something as valuable as the Atlas.

“Are you sure? You’re not hurt?” she checks.

“Nothing lasting.” I assure her. Before I run to the exit, I pause to grab the enchanted blue-flint-and-steel. Since they took the Atlas, I’m willing to bet they want something to do with the Portal Network- and I’m _not_ letting myself be caught unprepared this time.

“Wait! Shouldn’t we get the others?” Olivia asks as I head for the doors.

“No time. You can if you want, but I’m going after this guy. You’ll have to catch up.”

I charge out of the Hall, making a beeline for the stables. The thief is nowhere to be seen- there’s no way they’d hang around after taking something that valuable.

In less than two minutes, I’ve saddled my favorite horse and am racing out of town. I make out a figure in the near distance, the long black cloak making them almost laughably distinguishable.

But the thief must’ve used some sort of speed potion, because I can’t catch up as they run further and further from Beacontown. I can follow, sure, but I can’t overtake them, and can’t gain enough ground to even get a better look at them. My mare Athera is a fast horse, but nothing is faster than a Potion of Speed.

I’d just wanted a normal day. That was it.

But Petra had made a good point- if trouble wanted to pay a visit, it wasn’t going to wait for an invitation.

The chase continued. I wasn’t sure if the thief knew I was following or not, but they certainly had a specific destination in mind. Although they have a bit of a head start, they’re not able to lose me as we cross a plains biome and head into a forest.

It takes me a few minutes too long to realize that things were beginning to look familiar- this is the way to the jungle temple that hid the entrance to the Portal Network.

_I knew it._

I duck low to avoid a few branches as I consider this. Whoever this is, they do know the significance of the Atlas- they’re not a random robber looking for any treasure.

The portal has since been closed and re-hidden, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be re-lit. If the thief has their own flint-and-steel, they can easily reopen the gate and vanish into the Network. And with the Atlas in hand…who knows what chaos they might be up to?

In what seems like almost no time at all, I arrive at the jungle temple. I leap off Athera’s back before she’s even fully stopped, a trick I’d learned for fun and am very glad I did. The unknown thief has already disappeared inside, and I waste no time in charging in after them. Their speed potion seems to have almost worn off, as their descent up the vines is barely quicker than my own.

I whip out my sword as soon as I make it to the second floor. Just like I remembered, the quartz-and-gold portal is pushed back into the wall, hidden from any passing glance.

But this person clearly knows where to look. They stomp on the pressure plate on the floor, bringing the portal forward again.

“Hey!” I shout. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Who are you?”

The thief looks at me again. Their face is still mostly hidden in the shadow of the hood, but judging by what I can see, it _is_ a man.

“I am a servant of fate. I am the bringer of the end.” the stranger declares. His voice has a reedy, sort of unhinged quality to it that sends a chill down my spine. The way he speaks immediately gives me the impression that maybe I’m not dealing with someone totally sane. Wonderful.

I point the sword towards him. “That’s fascinating. Now, just give me the Atlas, and I won’t hurt you.”

“Oh?” he asks. A flint-and-steel appears in his hand, though while mine glows turquoise and teal, this one shines gold. “I’m afraid I can’t make the same promise.”

Quick as a lightning flash, he throws a Potion of Harming at me. I instinctively cry out and dive out of the way, nearly losing my grip on the sword. I’ve righted myself in just a few seconds, but he’s already gone, the familiar portal glowing again.

“Oh, no you don’t.” I growl.

I don’t even stop to think, just leap into the portal. My vision disappears for a few moments, drowning me in blue light.

When it fades, I’m somewhat surprised to find myself not up on Sky City, but already in the Portal Network. The thief is some ways ahead of me, walking down the hall of portals with a sense of great purpose as his black cloak billows dramatically behind him.

I adjust my grip on my sword, then shoot into a run, chasing after him at top speed. He hears my footsteps and turns, eyes widening in surprise. I guess he thought I wasn’t brave enough- or stupid enough -to follow him. 

He turns, preparing to run. I’m just a few feet away from apprehending him when someone suddenly comes through a portal to my left, colliding with me and sending me off-balance. I don’t even see who it is at first, because the thief lunges for me and punches me hard in the jaw.

There’s a terrible _crack_ as my body flies backwards, the back of my head crashing against the stone floor. A bright green light fills my vision, mixing with the black and white dots dancing in front of my eyes. I have no idea what just went down, but for the moment…I’ve lost the thief. 

“Oh, my Notch. The hell just happened?!” A new voice exclaims. I start to sit up, wincing as I rub my sore jaw. When I finally catch up with this man, I’m going to give him a hell of a beatdown.

I have to blink a few times to clear my speckled vision, and once I do, I feel like I’m still seeing things. This isn’t real. There’s no way I’m actually seeing this right now.

The person who interfered with my attack on the thief is a guy around my age, and a familiar one at that. I stare at him, refusing to believe my eyes. This is who cost me my victory? As if he hasn’t caused enough trouble in the past?

“… _Aiden?!_ _”_


	2. Aiden

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> forgot to clarify this, but the chapter title signifies whose point of view it's from ^^

I’d thought I was going to rot in the Landfall prison for the rest of my life.

It made sense. What else could be done with the guy who tried to destroy an entire city? Hell, an entire _civilization?_

You don’t get redemption after something like that. No second chances or shots at ‘trying again’. When you fuck up that badly, it’s all over for you.

Even if you don’t remember it.

Out of everything that happened on Sky City, that’s the weirdest of all. I don’t remember it.   
I know the gist of what happened- I lost my mind and unleashed hell on the place- but I don’t _remember_ it. The details are blurry and transparent, like an insane, surreal dream.

I remember being angry. I remember being scared, and desperate. I remember thinking how unfair it was that _she_ got to be known as a hero.

But it’s as though all the things I actually _did_ , my actions and the decisions I made, have been completely erased from my mind. Or never existed in the first place.

It all stopped after my final fight with Jesse. When she defeated me, knocked the sword out of my hands, it’s like I woke up. Things are clear again. I can explain in detail everything that went down from there on out, but all I have is vague ideas of everything before that.

I suppose I could’ve tried to use this bizarre sort-of amnesia to get out of my imprisonment, but what would’ve been the point? I’d done some majorly horrible things, whether I remembered it or not. I’d already accepted that this was just going to be my fate.

My cell is underground, with just the barest hint of light coming in from a slot at the top. I keep careful track of the days, refusing to lose myself in the monotony. Things became a painful haze, bad memories floating through my head during every waking moment. It’s almost complete isolation, besides the guards outside my cell.

Maya and Gill were stuck in cells of their own for a while as well, but since they were accomplices and not the mastermind of the whole thing, they got a little more leniency.   
Isa had made a deal with them- they would be let out of prison if they helped teach the Sky City people how to adapt to life on the ground. As I heard it, Gill jumped on board immediately; he’d never really been into my whole scheme to gain power.

Unsurprisingly, that option was _not_ presented to me. I was too much of a problem. So I sat in the cell for months, my mind tearing itself to shreds as my will to live slowly drained away.

And then today happened.

I’m awoken mid-day by the iron door to my cell opening. That’s enough of a surprise as is, but I’m even more shocked to see that my visitors are none other than Maya and Gill.

I’m on my feet in an instant. “Guys? W-what are you doing down here?”   
Part of me wants to smile- I haven’t seen them since I was locked up. But they both look very grave, so I don’t.

Maya glances nervously at Gill, then me. “We…something happened. We were sent in to tell you.”

“Why? _What_ happened?” I ask, already nervous.

Gill clears his throat, looking awkward and somewhat sad. “Isa and Milo have been arguing off-and-on about what to do with you, and they…they reached a decision.”

“A decision.” I echo. I’d vaguely wondered if the Founders were ever going to do anything else about me- it looks like they are.

Maya nods, mouth quivering like she’s about to cry. “They’re going to exile you.”

I freeze. I don’t know why, but…I’m not surprised. I’m not horrified. “Exile me. Where?” I manage to ask.

“To the portal hall. They’re going to send you through, and break the portal on this side. They’re happy here, and they don’t want to have to deal with other worlds. Isa also refused our request to let us go with you.” Gill explains quietly, looking at the floor.

“Because as much as I like it here, _I_ _’_ _d_ rather go and stay with you.” Maya announces. She doesn’t say, ‘ _because otherwise we_ _’_ _re probably not going to see you again_ _’_ , but it’s heavily implied in her tone.

“Well. I guess that’s that.” I murmur.

Maya steps closer and grabs my hand. “I swear, I’ll find some way for us to get to the portal hall. Or I’ll try to talk to Isa again, maybe I can sway her. You shouldn’t have to be out there alone, I’m sure there’s some way we can-”

I pull away from her, placing my hands on her shoulders. She’s always been so loyal, and it hurts to see that _still_ hasn’t changed, even after everything. “Maya. I don’t want you to come with me. It’s my fault you ended up here, I don’t want to drag you into whatever this turns out to be. You both deserve a fresh start. You shouldn’t…you shouldn’t waste your time worrying about me.”

Gill replies with a complicated sort of look, crossing his arms. “Aiden, since the Witherstorm, you’ve been a terrible person and a pretty awful friend. But that doesn’t mean we want to watch you get exiled. Being… _stranded_ out in that portal hall…it’s not right.”

“What else are they gonna do with me? I can’t…I’ve burned all my bridges, have I not? Yeah, this seems harsh. But I don’t think I blame them. It’s a fitting punishment.” I reply honestly.

Both of my friends just look at me. “But…Aiden…” Gill starts hesitantly. “What are you going to do? Where are you gonna _go_? If you’re alone out there…” 

I don’t say anything else, just reply with an impassive look. I know what they’re both thinking. _Anything_ might be waiting out there, in that chaotic nest of worlds. I’ll unarmed, with no allies or friends.

I’m as good as dead.

“Does it really matter?” I ask in a low voice. “I’ve made my choices, and they’ve led me here. I don’t have anyone else to blame, so I shouldn’t drag anyone else down with me.”

Maya’s about to argue; I can see it on her face. I know how stubborn she is- there’s no way she’s going to just accept this.

But she doesn’t get the chance. The door slams open again, and this time it’s several guards, led by Captain Reginald. “Step aside.” he orders Gill and Maya. To me, he says, “Don’t bother resisting. Your sentence here ends today.”

Gill does as he’s told, moving out of the way as the guards surround me. He seems guilty, dark eyes focused on the ground again. I believe him when he says he doesn’t want me gone, but I know he was never happy about any of this in the first place. Maya had been all for revenge on the New Order, but Gill had only gone along because he didn’t want to be left on his own. I feel incredibly bad for dragging him into this, but it’s too late to fix it now.

Maya, on the other hand, throws her arms around me. “I don’t care what you say. I’m going to find a way to help you.” she promises. She’s always been so stubborn. It’s nearly impossible to change her mind or convince her to stop something, which is part of the reason we’d gotten along so well in the past. We were both such reckless, headstrong people that we reflected easily off each other.

I don’t want to, but I gently push her off, stepping away from her. “Don’t. I…I’m sorry, Maya. I’m sorry for all of this.” I look over at Gill, and catch his eye for a moment so he knows I’m talking to him, too.

A guard pushes Maya away, and two others grab my shoulders. Reginald glares at me suspiciously, like he thinks I’m planning to stage an attack. His fears are justified, but wrong. I don’t have any such plans. Not anymore.

The captain leads the way out of the cell, down the dim hall and up into the morning sunlight. I keep my head down, not even bothering to look around at the new town. I’m aware that people are lined up alongside the path to watch me go, but I don’t pay them any attention.

_I don_ _’_ _t want to die._

The logical part of my brain is saying that I need to be forming some kind of plan- if not one to escape right now, then some idea of how to navigate the strange portal hall. But I can’t. I’m entirely out of tricks at this point, and I don’t have the motive to try anything, anyways.

I’m led down into a large cavern, with the familiar gold and quartz portal standing in the center of it, the turquoise center glowing brightly. Isa and Milo stand on either side of the portal, both looking very serious and a little triumphant. The various noises of dissent from the people watching- boos and hisses and whatnot -make me wince, but I try to keep my expression steady.

“Aiden. For all your crimes against the people of Sky City, you are to be banished to the unknown of the portal hall.” Isa intones. “You will go alone, and you _will not_ return. Do you understand?”

I don’t look at her as I murmur, “Yes.”

_I don_ _’_ _t want to die._

The guards at my shoulders shove me forward. I stumble slightly, then regain my balance and drag in a deep breath. Part of me wants to say something- apology, threat, farewell -but nothing comes to mind quick enough.

Milo makes a gesture towards the portal, and, with heavy footsteps, I walk through.

For a few seconds, I don’t see anything but shimmering turquoise light. Then I’m in an impossibly long, dim hall, lit by the multicoloured glow of countless portals.

I don’t have more than a moment to register this before someone slams into me, knocking both of us off-balance. I fall to the floor, staring in shock. Someone else? Here, now?

Then a second person lunges out of nowhere to deliver a solid punch to the first person’s jaw. Well, I suppose they didn’t really come out of _nowhere_ \- their black cloak just disguised them in the shadows when I first looked around.

The first person is sent flying backwards, and I jump to my feet. I don’t know what the hell is going on, but I feel like I should do _something_.

There’s a bright flash of green, as the cloaked person leaps through a gold-framed portal. I hurry over to kneel beside the person on the ground, thinking aloud. “Oh, my Notch. The hell just happened?!”

They sit up, rubbing their jaw. No, not _they_. She.

A dull sense of horror starts to overtake me. No. Oh, no. This is _not_ happening.

It’s _her_. She blinks her dark eyes a few times, and I know she’s thinking the same thing as I am. 

“… _Aiden?!_ _”_ she asks in disbelief.

“Jesse.” I breathe. _This_ _is not happening._ I am _not_ sitting right here, looking at her again. Besides the Sky City people, there’s only a few others who would really be out for my blood if I ever ran into them again, and she’s pretty high on the list.

She looks the same as she did six months ago. Her textured black hair is fluffed into a cloud around her head, and her dark blue armour is as polished as ever. And her expression is slowly shifting from disbelief to rage.

“YOU?! Are you fucking _SERIOUS_?! How-what the HELL are you doing here?!” she shouts. I cringe, and she jumps to her feet. “ _Aurgh!_ I lost the thief because of YOU?!”

I get back up as well, raising my hands in an ‘I-surrender’ sort of motion. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…”

She levels a ferocious glare at me, collecting her sword from where she dropped it. “You think I care what you _meant_?! Thanks to YOU, that creep has disappeared! How the hell am I supposed to get the Atlas back now?! I swear, I oughtta…”

Jesse makes a frustrated, vaguely violent movement with her free hand, apparently not having the words to describe what she wants to do with me. I lower my hands, still trying to seem unthreatening. “I’m sorry, honestly. It just…it was just bad timing.”

“Huh! You THINK?!” she snarls. Then she heaves a deep breath, slipping her sword into her inventory. “What the hell are you doing here?” she asks. Her voice is still hostile, but she sounds slightly less ready to kill me. “Did you finally break out to seek your revenge? Looking for more cities to destroy?”

“They banished me, actually. The Sky City people, I mean.” I explain simply.

She barks a humorless laugh. “Ha! Good for them.”

I ignore this, and the sting of guilt I feel. “What are _you_ doing back here? Who was that guy?” 

Jesse hesitates for a second, giving me a suspicious look. Then she turns her head to look down the seemingly endless hallway. “I don’t actually know who he is, but he stole the Atlas. I followed him to that jungle temple in hopes of catching him, but, well…then _you_ showed up and wrecked that.” she snaps.

“What’s the Atlas?” I ask bemusedly.

“It’s a…magic book that can help you navigate the Portal Network.” She explains with a brief wave of her hand. “Not very many people know about it, which makes this guy twice as suspicious. I don’t know how he found out about it, or what he wants it for…or anything, really.” 

She turns to look at me again. “You said they _banished_ you? Like, full-out exile?”

“Yeah. No weapons or supplies or anything, and if I go back, I have a pretty good feeling they’ll kill me on the spot.” I explain heavily. Saying the words aloud feels strange, like I’m truly accepting my fate.

_I don_ _’_ _t want to die._

Jesse lets out a frustrated huff. “Well, then it looks like we’re both kinda stuck here. I don’t know where he went, and I’m not going home without the Atlas. Not after all the shit I went through to actually get it.”

I turn around, examining the portals near us. “Ah…actually. I think I saw which portal he went through.”

“You WHAT!” she exclaims, staring at me. “Why didn’t you say so?! Where’d he go?”

I pause, weighing my options. There’s none that could easily be considered _good_ right now, but one is certainly more favorable than the other. “Here’s the deal. I’ll tell you where he went…if you let me come with you.”

She actually laughs. “Funny. That’s a huge _no_.”

“Please. I don’t have anywhere else to go, and I feel bad for letting him get away. Let me help.” I implore. I _do_ regret getting in her way, but I know that with her on my side, I’ll have a much better chance of surviving whatever craziness might be lurking in these portals.

Jesse shakes her head, still smiling poisonously. “No fuckin’ way. I don’t ever want to see you again, much less let you join this little quest.”

“Come on. Are you afraid I’m going to attack you again or something?” I ask. Her eyebrows quirk up, which I take as a yes. I spread my arms, indicating my thin form and lack of armour. “Look at me. I wouldn’t last ten seconds in a fight against you or anything else. _I_ don’t want to die in here, and _you_ want to find your thief. We can work together- I want to be able to help.” 

The mocking smile has dropped, giving way to an angrier look. “The problem with that is that I don’t trust or like you one bit. What makes you think we even have the _capacity_ to work together?! We couldn’t stand each other even BEFORE you pushed me off a freaking sky island!”

I cross my arms as well, imitating her stance. “Well, think of it this way. Who are you more mad at right now? The now-defenseless guy who fucked up six months ago and has since learned from his mistakes, or the potentially crazy dude who punched your lights out and stole your valuable artifact?”

Jesse grits her teeth, glaring around at everything. Admittedly, this is far from an ideal team, but I’m hoping that right now, we’re both desperate enough to make it work.

She drops her hands to her sides. “Fine! _Fine._ You win. But the _first time_ you do something suspicious, I will _not_ hesitate to hurt you.”

“Understood.” I assure her, then extend one hand. “Truce?”

Another moment of hesitation. Then she makes a low growling noise in her throat, and reaches out to shake my hand.

“Truce.”


	3. Jesse

I hate- _hate -_ being backed into a corner.

For me, life is all about choices. And when I’m not given a choice, it’s absolutely infuriating. I would throw Aiden through the nearest dangerous portal if he didn’t have information I need.

I don’t trust him. His story about being exiled seems true enough, but if I’ve learned _anything_ about Aiden from last time, it’s that he’s one hell of a weasel.

He retracts his hand, looking satisfied. I glare darkly at him as I ask, “Alright, where did he go?”

Aiden turns, pointing to a familiar gold portal with a bright green center. “Right through there. Whoa, that one kinda looks like a skull, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, it does.” I sigh. Just when I thought this couldn’t get any worse. Well, at least I know what to expect from this world, more or less. “Come on. I’m not resting til I catch that guy.”

Aiden seems mildly surprised when I gesture for him to come with me. What, did he really think I was going to leave him here? He said he wanted to help- is he so distrusting that he assumed I wouldn’t keep my part of the deal?

I don’t waste a second, walking straight into the green portal. I’m not sure which is more likely; was the thief just taking an easy escape when he went through this portal, or was it intentional? What could he want from this world?

I’m suddenly falling, an instinctive cry ripping free of my throat. I hit the ground hard, then immediately roll out of the way as Aiden falls in the exact same spot. Right. I forgot that fun little aspect of portal-hopping.

“What the hell…” Aiden grumbles as I get to my feet. “Oh…OH WHAT THE HELL.”

I glance over at him as he bolts to his feet, brushing himself off and scrambling backwards to get away from the gravestone he’d landed next to. “Well. This looks cheerful.” He comments.

I ignore him, gazing around. We’re in the same graveyard as before, though luckily it’s day instead of the middle of the night. There’s no one in sight, and I mentally curse Aiden for wasting time instead of just telling me where the thief went.

Stepping out the open gate of the graveyard, I continue surveying the place. The sense of nostalgia I get is strange- it hasn’t been that long since I was first here, but being back makes it seem as though it was just yesterday. In the distance, I can see the looming shape of Cassie’s mansion, and that brings back a whole new flood of memories.

“So? Where do you think he went?” Aiden asks.

My first instinct is to snap at him to shut up, but I bite my tongue for now. “I’m not sure.” I say instead. “The problem is that I don’t know his motive. Did he come to this world just to get away from us, or is there something here he wants?”

“Well…if we’re assuming he came here with a purpose, where might he go?” he asks.

“Again, I don’t know. I was only in this world for one night, and we stayed in one place the whole time. I don’t know much about this world.” I admit with a shrug.

“What’s that place up there? It seems important.” Aiden inquires.

I barely have to glance at where he’s pointing to know he means the mansion. An idea suddenly dawns on me, and I look over at him again. “That’s the White Pumpkin’s mansion. And where we’re headed. As far as I know, it’s the only place with an exit portal, so even if the thief isn’t there now, he will be eventually.”

He grins. “Good thinking. Come on- if we’re gonna catch him that way, we need to get there first.”

His tone is entirely too good-natured for my taste, and as I walk alongside him, I inform him, “Look, let me just make this clear. We may be working together to catch this guy, but we are _not_ friends. You hear me? The only reason you’re here is because I’m not willing to go after that guy again without backup. I was hoping to stop him before he even got into the Portal Network, but…well, now we’re here. My point is, just because you’re helping right now doesn’t mean anything is forgiven. Not even close.” I say seriously.

Aiden just looks at me for a few moments with somber green eyes. Then he shrugs. “I figured as much. I’m not expecting you to forgive me or anything…but will you at least tell me what the hell the ‘White Pumpkin’ is?”

I almost laugh at the amount of disbelief in his tone. “…Sure. Might as well.” I agree.

The story unfolds as we walk up the long path to the mansion. I tell him all about Cassie and the murders- everything that had happened in this world the first time I was here. He listens attentively- more so that I would’ve expected. It’s a little disarming, really, how easy he is to talk to.

But every time I look up at his face, I just keep flashing back to Sky City. I keep seeing his features twisted into an expression of hatred, those pale eyes alight with fury.

It’s a little strange, honestly, how little malice he’s shown towards me. He must really be afraid I’m going to send him away or hurt him. Unless…he really has changed for the better.

I’m not allowing myself to believe that, though. Not by half. I need to keep my guard up, and stay focused on catching the thief. Aiden is necessary for now, but I’m not about to even come close to trusting him.

We make it up the large hill that the mansion rests on, heading for the main door. I suddenly freeze, staring up at the gigantic building with uncertain eyes. “Wait. There’s…there’s lights on in there. Who could…?”

He’s already got one hand on the doorknob. “What? Should we wait?”

I hesitate, then shake my head. “No. Let’s just go in. I think someone else might be in here, but I’m just hoping they’re not hostile.”

I follow him inside, looking around at the large entrance hall. A slight shiver runs down my spine at the sight of those giant portraits still up on the walls. Even knowing what to expect, it still creeps me out a bit.

Aiden stares up at the one of Lukas. I wonder if he’s going to comment on the comical disfigurement of the portrait’s nose, but all he does is turn away, expression darkening slightly.

_Huh. What_ _’_ _s that all about?_

I’m debating whether or not to ask him what merited that reaction when I suddenly hear the creak of the floor, and a door slamming. I whirl around, drawing my sword.

“Sounds like you were right. Someone’s here.” Aiden mutters.

“HELLO? Who’s there?” I call. He turns to give me a shocked look, but I ignore him. If whoever’s here is friendly, they’ll respond. If they keep quiet, I’ll know we’re dealing with someone shady.

“Ah! What- who-!” a female voice exclaims.

I hear the sound of running footsteps, then a familiar woman appears from the direction of the dining room. I relax immediately, putting my weapon back in my inventory. “Stacy! Hey there.”

She pauses, looking me over in surprise. “ _Jesse?_ What are you doing back?” 

“Long story short, I’m chasing a thief. Oh- this is Aiden, by the way. What’s going on? How come you’re, well…up here?” I ask.

Before she can answer, another person peers out of the doorway she just came from. “Stacy? What’s going on?”

The newcomer is a fairly short girl with long blonde hair pulled into a low ponytail. She studies us with nervous grey-blue eyes, clearly unsure if we’re dangerous or not.

“Oh, right. Dawson, this is Jesse. Don’t worry, she’s nice enough.” Stacy says to the girl. To me, she continues with, “Stampy and I organized a little team to clean this place up and get rid of the traps. There’s been no sign of Cassie since we all escaped, and we decided we couldn’t let this whole mansion just fall to ruin with her gone.”

“We’re thinking about turning it into a hotel or something, but we won’t be able to decide that until _after_ we clear out all the traps.” Dawson adds. “There’s more than you might think- we’ve already been at this for a month and we haven’t even gotten halfway through.”

I feel a slight shiver of dread. “Really? No sign of Cassie, at all?”

Stacy shakes her head. “Nothing. All her cats are gone too, so we’re guessing she somehow escaped into the Portal Network. We found a lit portal waaaaaay underneath the house- I’m still not sure how she survived that sand trap, but she must’ve gotten out through there.”

I’m half-tempted to explain my final fight with her, but we don’t have time. Aiden nudges my arm, apparently thinking the same thing. “We need to find that portal, actually. The thief that Jesse mentioned…we’re pretty sure he’s going to try to make a run for it through there.”

“Aw. No time to socialize?” Stacy asks. Her tone is joking, but I still wince guiltily.

“Sorry, no. We really need to catch this guy.” I say.

She nods understandingly. “The passage that leads down to the portal is the one in the…library, I believe. Yeah. Go in through where the portrait was, and go _right_ \- left’ll take you back to the kitchen. There should be a staircase, and that passage goes all the way down to the deepest trap. And the portal, of course.”

“Thanks! I promise I’ll come back and help you guys once I’ve caught this creep.” I say, already heading for the library.

The décor of the whole place has been subtly changed, giving the tall rooms a much less creepy look. But the library is mostly how I remember it. I cast a wary glance at the unlit fireplace, knowing full well there’s another secret route behind it. I hear Aiden’s footsteps behind me as I make a beeline for the passage that used to be hidden behind a rabbit painting.

“This place is actually really cool.” Aiden comments as he enters the passage behind me.

“Right?” I agree. “I mean, it was scary as fuck when we were first here, but it’s still really neat. Even though I almost died like, seventeen times.”

I quickly find the stairs Stacy mentioned, and we don’t waste any time in hurrying down them. I want to know who this thief really is, and what the hell he’s up to.

“Jesse…” Aiden starts, sounding uncertain. I glance back at him, my expression more than a little sour. “I don’t know what you’re planning right now, but I hope you know I’m unarmed. I won’t be much help in a fight.”

I let out a disgruntled huff, wondering again why I agreed to this. I pause, rummaging around in my inventory. “Here. You’ll have to make do with this.” I tell him bluntly, handing over my iron axe. Taking a closer look at him, I notice he’s also thinner than usual. He’d always pulled off this jock sort of look in the past, but now he’s reedy and pale. Apparently the Sky City people weren’t too interested in treating him well.

 _Serves him right_ , I think automatically. Then; _no, that_ _’_ _s not fair._ He may have fucked up, but he still deserves to be treated like a person, not a living mistake.

He takes the weapon, not looking me in the eye. With only a muttered ‘thanks’, he continues along the passage, forcing me into a jog to keep up with his long strides.

Another unexpected reaction. There’s something going on in his head that I haven’t figured out yet, and I’m not quite sure I’m going to. I don’t know if he’s fully _hiding something,_ but there’s definitely something going on that I don’t know about.

Maybe I should try being a little nicer to him. If he takes advantage of that, I’ll know I can’t trust him. But if he keeps up this strangely passive attitude…well, I’m not sure yet. So far, he hasn’t actively given me any new reasons to hate him- and as long as we continue that theme, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.

Because if there’s one thing I believe in, it’s second chances. 

The passage gradually opens up into a larger tunnel, and I quicken my steps as I realize we’re nearing the portal. The dim alley gradually brightens, lit by the green glow of the portal and the torches lining the giant pit of Cassie’s Endermite trap.

Aiden immediately goes over to look at the trap. “Whoa. This is _huge_.”

“Yeah. Kinda hard to believe she set this whole thing up herself. I gotta hand it to her- as crazy as that woman was, she was _really_ smart. Was? Is? I don’t know.” I murmur, looking briefly down into the pit as well. “Huh. No Endermites, no inventory…she really must’ve gotten away. I wonder where she is now.”

There’s suddenly a noise from the top of the trap, and I absent-mindedly step away, pulling Aiden with me. “I think he’s here.” I whisper.

We both back up in unison, standing between the trap and the portal. To my surprise, the thief suddenly _floats_ down from the top of the trap, the black cloak flowing behind him. As I’m staring, struggling to comprehend this, Aiden tilts his head closer to me and whispers, “Potion of Slow Falling. You didn’t say this guy was some kind of potion wizard.”

“I didn’t know.” I murmur back. Then I remember the speed potion he’d used to escape Beacontown, and how long it had lasted. I guess he really does have experience with potions- meaning that we’ll have to be extra-careful.

He lands on the edge of the pit, where Cassie had tried to trap me behind a wall of fire. He lifts his head to look at the portal, and only seems mildly surprised to see us standing in front of it. I draw my sword, and Aiden brandishes the axe.

I realize that he no longer has the mask over his mouth and nose, but it doesn’t do me much good. It’s still a little too dark to see his face clearly, which is frustrating. This would be so much simpler if I knew, well…whether I knew him or not.

“Caught up to me already.” he says in a low, warbling voice. I catch a small flicker of movement out of the corner of my eye as Aiden shudders slightly. There’s something just _off_ about this man’s voice, something that makes him seem just a few steps off from reality. 

He walks towards us. He doesn’t bother to draw a weapon, which is honestly more unnerving than if he had.

“Who are you?” I demand. “What are you doing here.”

“Ahh. You know what that sounds like?” he asks in reply. I tip my head to the side, unsure what he’s getting at. “Like _my_ business. None of yours.” he finishes.

He’s almost close enough for me to strike him now. And boy, do I ever want to. “Give me back the Atlas.”

“Get out of my way.” he returns blankly, reaching up to pull his hood lower over his eyes. 

“Not a chance.” I snarl.

He lunges.

I slash my sword at him, but he was feinting. He dodges left, trying to go around me, but Aiden blocks his path. He lifts the axe with both hands, preparing to swing.

The thief darts backwards, and I take another jab at him. A knife suddenly appears in his left hand as he uses his right to deflect my blade. He must be wearing some sort of armoured gloves, because he knocks away the sharp side of the sword without showing any sign of pain.

“You have no right to get in my way, little girl.” he intones. I growl, and swing my sword down at his legs. He barely dodges, and swipes at me with the knife. I bring my blade up again, coming within an inch of slicing his hand off.

I force out an insincere laugh as he dances backwards, keeping his hands closer to his body. “And _you_ have no right to bring a knife to a swordfight.”

“Forgive me. I’ll change tactics, if it suits you.” he says.

He leaps forward again, but before I can attack, a splash potion has been broken at my feet. I collapse immediately, dropping my sword and clutching my chest as the Potion of Harming takes hold. I gasp in pain, unable to make a louder noise as the potion sets every one of my nerves on fire.

“Jesse?!” Aiden exclaims. I’m surprised by the concern in his tone, but I don’t have any time to think about it. I manage to roll onto my side, watching helplessly as the thief lunges for him.

He throws another splash potion, but Aiden avoids it. Adjusting his grip on the handle, he swings the axe at the cloaked man, but he’s clearly not used to wielding that particular tool as a weapon. The thief evades him neatly, then slashes the knife at his shoulder.

Aiden cries out, nearly losing his grip on the axe. The knife is brought up again, and I shout a warning as the thief plunges it down, obviously planning to impale Aiden through the heart.

Aiden dodges, but he’s not quite fast enough. He lets out a horrible scream of pain as the blade is dragged down his side- not a fatal wound, but certainly a painful one.

He goes down, clutching his bleeding side. Not wasting a second, the thief bolts through the portal, disappearing into the glowing swirls of green.

By now, the Potion of Harming is beginning to wear off. I grit my teeth as I slowly sit up, fury coursing through my blood. I’m going to find that guy, and I’m going to drown him in poison. _After_ I rip the Atlas out of his slimy little hands.

I’m still in varying degrees of pain, but I get to my feet and hurry over to where Aiden is kneeling on the ground. He’s alive and he’s conscious, but he’s still losing blood. I can see the gash through the tear in his shirt, but it’s too hard to tell how deep it really is. It looked like he avoided the worst of it, but I can’t be sure. 

He lets out another low whine of pain, pulling one hand away from the wound to look at his fingers smeared with blood.

“Do you think you can stand?” I ask cautiously. He grimaces, but nods.

“I don’t think it’s as bad as it looks. Doesn’t matter- we need to find that son of a bitch.”

I hesitate. “Really? It might be better to go back up to the mansion, see if we can find some healing potions or bandages or something.”

He shakes his head stubbornly, the ends of his messy brown hair brushing his shoulders. “No time. He can’t get away. He’s too dangerous.”

Aiden starts to struggle to his feet, and I do my best to help him up. I think it would be smarter to take a look at his wounds, but Aiden has a point. If we lose the thief now, we might not be able to find him again.

“Okay. If you think you’re alright…let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dawson is @Goldendoodlegamer11 ! do check her out she's a very good friend of mine and has a lot of cool stuff ^^


	4. Jesse

I land on my feet this time, though that’s partially because we don’t fall from as far above the ground. I’m only half-surprised to see we’re already in another world, not back in the Network.

Aiden, however, seems taken very off-guard. “Whoa. How…w-why is…?” he stammers, clutching his side. It doesn’t look like he’s bleeding much, but we’ll need to take a look at that slash sooner rather than later.

“I don’t know- it’s just a thing that portals do sometimes. It’s like a sixty-forty chance, I think, of ending up back in the Network or in another world entirely.” I explain briefly.

“Fun.” he huffs.

A drop of water lands on my head, and I glance up at the cloudy grey sky. It’s then that I realize that, again, we’re completely alone. “Dammit. He got away again. We weren’t that far behind, though. How did he escape so fast?” I muse.

“Well…we’ve seen now that he knows some things about potions. He might’ve used an invisibility potion, or a speed one, or…something like that.” Aiden points out. 

I don’t respond, too busy scanning our new surroundings. It’s just starting to fade into the beginnings of evening, and we’re in a mostly ordinary-looking plains biome…at least, it _would_ look ordinary if not for the wreckage of a town directly in front of us.

It seems like it was a fairly large one. There’s ruins of a wall surrounding the dilapidated buildings, which makes me immediately wonder what exactly caused the damage. It can’t be mob attacks, so what…? 

I head quickly towards the town, not caring if Aiden chooses to follow. As I draw closer, I begin to get the feeling that something’s not right. Not just about the damage, but about the town itself. It looks strangely aged, and patched-together with mismatched materials. It’s not a zombie village, but it somewhat reminds me of one.

The few scattered droplets of rain have begun to pick up. Aiden quickens his steps to walk beside me. “I think a big storm’s about to roll in. We might need to take cover in that town. It looks abandoned, but it should be safe enough.”

I shake my head quickly as we pass inside the ruined wall. “No. I don’t know what it is, but I don’t like the feel of this place. Let’s just look around, and find somewhere else to take shelter.”

Aiden pauses, seeming like he’s about to argue. I raise one eyebrow in a challenging expression, and he turns and walks away, muttering something under his breath.

Shooting a brief glare in his direction, I examine the nearest building. There’s clawmarks sunk into the wooden wall, but I can’t think of what could’ve made them. Wither Skeletons can have nasty claws sometimes, but how would one have gotten here?

I raise my arm, comparing the size of my hand to the scratches. I shudder as I realize that, with my fingers fully spread, whatever made this only had slightly larger hands than me.

“Hey, Jesse. Check this out.” Aiden calls, just loud enough for me to hear.

I jog over to him, sinking into a concerned frown as I see what he’s looking at. One side of another building is completely charred, but in a way that makes me think the fire was…well, _thrown_.

“On a scale of ‘hell no’ to ‘absolutely fucking yes’, how likely is it that some weird monster crashed through here?” he asks.

I reach up to tough the burned bit, and fingertips of my glove come away black with soot. “Shit.” I mutter. “I don’t know for sure, but that’s…more likely that I’d prefer.”

“Also, did you see the shapes of some of these houses?” he continues. “They don’t…I dunno, they don’t fully seem like they were built by _people_. Or…for people.”

A shiver jolts down my spine as he says this, though that could also be because of the now steadily-falling cold rain. “We should get out of here.” I murmur, scanning the area again. To the right of the village, the mostly-flat plain rises up into a tall oak-shadowed hill, and I can see the beginnings of a cave in the base of it. I absent-mindedly grab at Aiden’s jacket sleeve as I start towards the cavern opening.

He quickly sees where I’m heading, and lets out a noise of disgust. “ _Really?_ If whatever did this comes back, you really think we’ll be that much better off in a cave?” 

“It’s better than being out in the open. Though you’re more than welcome to stay out here if you want to bitch about it.” I snap, crossing my arms. He looks like he’s seriously considering it for a few seconds, and I add, “I’m fine with letting you come along, but let’s be straight here. I don’t care if something happens to you. You’re your own damn problem, got it?”

As soon as the words leave my mouth, I feel bad. It’s not just my instinctive kindness slapping me in the face, but Aiden’s reaction. He doesn’t look angry, like I expected. His brows furrow slightly, and he leans away from me. He doesn’t even fully seem _hurt_ , just…sad, if anything.   
“I…okay. Let’s just go, then.” he says tiredly.

The rain picks up even more right as we duck into the cave, water droplets pattering loudly on the leaves of the trees outside. The cave is fairly small, cutting off into a dead end only a little ways in. This makes it luckily easy to line with torches, so no monsters spawn while we’re hiding out in here. On the other hand, though, if something comes after us, we don’t have a second escape route. 

While I’m scoping out the cave, Aiden is standing guard by the entrance. As I’m returning to the front, I notice his posture suddenly stiffen, like he’s instinctively preparing to run.

“What?” I ask.

He nods to indicate the ruined town. “There’s people out there. They’re…they’re not…something’s wrong.”

I stare out at the way we’d come. Sure enough, there’s people running into the wreckage of the village, going straight through the former wall like we did. There _is_ something off about them, and I’m not sure how to describe it. They all move strangely, and some of them aren’t quite built right- one seems a touch too tall to be normal, another’s arms are too thick. And…though we’re too far away to see very clearly, it seems like several of them don’t have human skin. 

They all duck behind walls and around corners, peering expectantly around like they’re waiting for something. It looks like there’s around ten or so of them, though there may be one or two I missed due to the rain obscuring my view.

“What are they doing…?” Aiden wonders aloud. I don’t have an answer for him.

Suddenly, there’s a deafening explosion- like a creeper, but louder. There’s a vague shout from the people, though they sound more triumphant than anything else. 

Through the thin mist created by the rain, I can see a second group of people approaching. There’s not as many of them, six if I had to guess, but they look different than the first group. They still are the same kind of _off_ , but they’re walking slowly, and seem very confident. Also, several of them appear to be…glowing. 

“I think…don’t take my word for this, but those people…I think they might be _mob hybrids_.” Aiden muses quietly to me.

I narrow my eyes. “ _What?_ _”_

“Look closely.” he orders, squinting out at them. “That tall woman in the lead- I think it’s a woman -she has _black skin._ But she’s not getting hurt by the rain, and I think she’s got a sword, so…”

“You think she’s…what, a Wither Skeleton?” I ask.

He shrugs, not taking his eyes off the group. “I don’t know what I think. I’m just telling you what I see.” he says crisply. I start to glare at him again, then decide it’s not worth it. 

Instead, I turn my eyes to one of the glowing people in the second group. They’re short and stocky, with dark skin that has bright lava-coloured cracks running through it. They’re not walking quite normally, either- their short steps take them just a little too far.

A _Magma Cube_ _…_ _?_

Another person seems to be floating slightly above the ground. She’s extremely pale, and is holding what looks like a ball of fire in her hands. A Ghast. She must’ve been the one to cause that scorch mark.

“Oh, no.” Aiden mutters. “Look back at the first group.”

One person has come out of hiding, heading back out towards the newcomers. I have just enough time to notice that his skin is mottled with green before he breaks into a run, his whole body flashing white.

He leaps at the second group, and there’s a terrific explosion. Most of them dive out of the way, but I still see several of them flash red as they take damage from the explosion. The Creeper man is nowhere to be seen.

The Wither Skeleton woman makes a signaling motion with her sword, and all of the second group charge forward. Now that I’m paying more attention to the individual people, it seems like they’re _all_ Nether mobs- a second Magma Cube, three Zombie Pigmen, and, of course, the Ghast. I briefly wonder why there isn’t a Blaze in the mix, but I answer my own question just as fast when a clap of thunder splits the air.

I can’t identify most of the first group, even as they leave their hiding spaces and attack the Nether mob-people. There’s a man with a crossbow who must be a Pillager hybrid, and I think I see a four-armed spider person. I watch the Ghast woman float higher to avoid getting impaled by a trident, which means there’s at least one Drowned in the mix.

I wonder why they’re fighting. That’s far from the only question I have about the whole thing, but that’s the one that comes most prominently to mind as I watch the battle escalate. Maybe mobs are just inherently hostile, even if they’re hybrids…but I can’t help but feel there might be something bigger going on.

“You don’t think they’ll find us, do you?” Aiden asks. I shake my head quickly.

“They look pretty preoccupied.”

After another moment, he turns away from the scene and sits down with his back against the cave wall, wincing as his wounded shoulder touches the stone. “I low-key wish I could get a better look. Mob-people isn’t exactly something you see every day, y’know?”

“Yeah. We saw a lot of weird crap the first time through the Network, but…not _mob-people_.” I add.

“The joys of adventuring.” he snarks. “Not sure I see the appeal.”

I bristle immediately. “Again. No one said you had to come.”

Aiden raises an eyebrow at me. “Was I complaining? That was just an observation, Jesse. You don’t need to…don’t need…” he stammers for a few moments, searching for words. I plant a hand on my hip, giving him an expectant look. He gestures to me, and manages to say, “You don’t need to take everything I say as a personal attack.” 

“Can you really blame me?” I snap, though my heart’s not really in it.

He makes a frustrated gesture. “There! Again! No one said anything about _blame_! I’m _not_ blaming you! I’m not out to get you!”

Sighing tiredly, he reaches up to run a hand through his mop of hair. “Look. I know you don’t like me. You’re holding a grudge, and that’s more than fair. I _know_ that, and I’m not trying to…to invalidate that anger or anything. But if we’re really working together until we catch that thief, we don’t need to be bitching at each other every second. We don’t have to be friends. We just need to…I dunno, co-exist. I really do want to help you- I feel bad for getting in your way, and I want to try to make it up to you.”

I hesitate for a few moments, just looking at him. He stares passively back, some emotion I can’t read flickering behind his eyes. I exhale slowly, sitting down several feet away from him. “Fine. You’re right. This’ll be easier if we can get along, so…I’ll try if you will.”

“Good.” he says simply. “And…Jesse? I know this is kind of a weird thing to say considering the situation we’re in, but…thank you. For letting me come with you. I’m serious.”

I look away, turning my gaze back to the falling rain outside. “Whatever.” I mutter just loud enough for him to hear. 

But I know he _is_ serious, somehow. And maybe, just maybe…he’s worth giving a second chance to after all.


	5. Aiden

We spend over an hour in silence.

Well, silence between us, at least. The rain and thunder make plenty of noise as the evening slips into night, and we can occasionally hear sounds from the fight as well. I’m not sure I want to know who’s winning of the two mobs groups- they both seemed equally scary to me.

It’s humbling, knowing that I’m in a completely different world than from everything I’ve ever known. Things are different here, and will probably get _more_ different as we continue our quest. I’d already had a slight taste of the whole ‘other world’ experience from Sky City, but…well. There were obviously a few complications there, the least being that I don’t remember most of it.

I want to tell Jesse about that. I’m not sure if it will change her view of me, but that’s not important. I just want to be able to clear my conscience, and get the truth out in the open. Doesn’t matter what she thinks of it. 

Alright, maybe it matters a _little bit_. I really would prefer to stop getting glared at, of course. Part of me wants to make a bitter joke about the quiet between us, how we can only get along if we’re both keeping our mouths shut.

But that wouldn’t exactly improve things, so I continue to bite my tongue.

I shift my position on the floor again, my side aching. I was lucky to only get a graze instead of a worse wound, but it still hurts. The slice on my shoulder is the same- it’s not that bad, as far as knife injuries could go, but that doesn’t stop it from being painful.

I briefly wonder if Jesse has honestly told me all she knows about the thief. There really isn’t a lot of information…but I kind of got the feeling she didn’t know a whole lot either.

With that in mind, I look over at Jesse again. She’s been mostly ignoring me, making me think she’s going with the mindset of ‘if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all’. Right now, she’s searching through her inventory, though I’m not sure what she might be looking for.

She suddenly glances up, making eye contact with me. I hold her dark gaze for a second, then look down at the stone ground. She’s rather difficult to read, and I’m not sure what to make of it. Is she angry? Scared? Deciding whether or not to forgive me? Planning to kill me in my sleep?

At the very least, I don’t think she’s scared of me. I _would_ say that’s an improvement, but really, why _would_ she be scared of me? It doesn’t matter what I’ve done in the past- I’m essentially defenseless here.

I startle slightly as she moves closer to me, holding something white. “I, ah…turns out I had a roll of bandages in my inventory, so if you want me to look at that wound…” she offers hesitantly.

I raise my eyebrows, genuinely surprised. “Wh- really? I thought that I was my ‘own damn problem’.” I mimic. I had tried not to let on how much that hurt, but I evidently failed, based on the way she winces.

Honestly, I’m not even sure _why_ that jab had gotten to me. It’s not like she has any real reason to care about my well-being. But I suppose it always hurts when someone says the same depressing thing you’re thinking, just even more blunt.

“Wellllll…yeah, you are. But _after_ this.” she says slowly. “Do you want help, or not? I’m fine with just keeping this in my inventory and letting _that_ get infected. Up to you.” she informs me, indicating the slice on my side with a nod of her head.

“Sure, yes. Not having an infected wound would be wonderful.” I agree quickly.

Jesse moves closer, taking off her armoured gloves and kneeling beside where I’m sitting. Her expression is completely no-nonsense, and I get the feeling she’s used to patching up wounds nowadays. “Jacket off. Shirt, too. I need to see how bad it actually is.”

This makes me redden slightly, but I know she has a point. Not looking at her, I tug off my black jacket, then my faded green shirt. I’m glaring at the large hole in the fabric that was left by the thief’s knife, when I suddenly remember something. Oh, no. I’m going to need to be _very_ careful if I don’t want Jesse to see that.

But she’s busy examining my bare torso. “You’re so _thin_.” she blurts out. “The hell happened?”

“The, ah…the guards weren’t too interested in keeping me perfectly well-fed.” I mutter. It’s only a half-truth. In the prison, I’d always been given enough to eat. I just didn’t always take it.

“Hm.” she grunts noncommittally. She pulls a water-filled glass bottle and a faded purple rag from her inventory, then gestures for me to move my arm out of her way. I do so, being careful to keep the inside of my forearm turned away from her.

“You seem very used to this.” I comment. She pours a bit of the water on the rag, and starts cleaning the blood off my side. I immediately hiss in pain, to which she doesn’t react.

“It’s kind of my job within the Order. Patching the others up, I mean.” she says. “When we were younger, Axel and I got into a lot of trouble, so Olivia would usually be the one to treat the damage. But after Axel started leaning towards being a griefer, Liv made it clear he was no longer going to be her problem. So I learned how to deal with basic injuries and whatnot, and that’s just…carried over into the Order. You’re lucky, by the way- this isn’t as deep as I thought. It _should_ heal fine on its own, though you’d probably be happier if we managed to scrounge up a Healing Potion at some point.”

I exhale slowly. “Well. That’s good to know.”

Jesse nods distractedly. “Sit up straighter so I can dress the wound right.” 

“Who tends to get the most banged up in the Order?” I ask conversationally as she begins carefully winding the bandages around my torso.

She lets out a sudden laugh. “Petra, no contest. At least Axel’s kind of learned from his mistakes over the years. Petra hasn’t learned _shit_. Lukas is also surprisingly careless sometimes…though I guess you know that.”

As she says this, she glances up to meet my eyes. I look away immediately, memories already swarming my mind. Yeah, I do know. It’s funny how someone so self-centered can be so unconcerned about his physical self.

“How come you keep doing that?” she asks carefully, still looking at me.

“…Doing what?” I ask, stalling.

She pokes me in the ribs- which is to say, prods my wound. I yelp, and she levels a serious look at me. “Doing _that_. You keep being weird when Lukas is mentioned.”

I hesitate for another long moment, trying to find the words. No, that’s not quite right. I have the words. I have too many words. But none of them work right here, right now.

Staring at the floor, I eventually murmur, “I don’t want to talk about him. We have a lot of history, and most of it is really ugly now. It’s just… _everything_ between him and me is just such a colossal mess, and I…I really just want to leave it alone. At least for right now.”

Her dark eyes stay trained on my face for several more long moments. Then she shrugs slightly, and reaches to secure the bandage. “Fine. But if you don’t tell me eventually, I’ll ask him when I get home. And I’m sure _you_ _’d_ rather that I hear your side of the story.”

“Oh, yeah. Definitely.” I snort, feeling extremely bitter. I wonder what he’s already told her- told _all of them_ -but there’s no way in hell I’m going to ask. Not right now. 

She gives me another weird look, then wets the rag again. “Lemme see your shoulder. I don’t have anything to bandage it with, but I can at least clean it.”

I shift my position, angling closer to Jesse to make it easier. She frowns slightly, pushing a lock of my hair out of the way- I haven’t cut it since the Witherstorm, and it’s gotten obnoxiously long in the past few months.

The feeling of her fingers on my skin makes my face heat up again. I’m not at _all_ used to being this close to someone else, much less someone whom I have so much bad history with. Maya used to be really physically affectionate, so I’m used to being near her, but Jesse is…all kinds of different. 

This time, she catches the fact that I’m embarrassed. To my surprise and borderline horror, she leans in closer, lightly touching my back and murmuring, “Aw, am I making you uncomfortable?” with a mocking smirk.

My first instinct is to jerk away, but then I’ll have proven her right. Instead, I move nearer as well, so our faces are only a few inches apart. “Not at _all_.” I snark, packing as much sarcasm into the three words as I can.

Jesse lets out a surprising snort of laughter, and returns to sitting how she was before. “Sorry, but you’re the one who got sliced. If I’m patching you up, I’m allowed to make you as uncomfortable as I want.”

“Wonderful. I’ll do my best not to get any more such injuries in the future.” I joke. I reach up to move my hair out of her way again, and by the time I realize my mistake, she’s already glanced up.

She does a double take, and I quickly drop my arm. But it’s too late.

“Wait, what was that? Give me your arm.” She demands. I hesitate, but that just makes her more suspicious. Apparently deciding I’m not going to show her on my own, Jesse reaches over and grabs my wrist, turning my arm so the full scene is on display.

Scars. A long, bloody column of scars upon scars, stretching the width of my arm from my wrist to elbow and back again. Some of them are several months old. Others are fresh, bloody scratches. Some are thick and wide, disfiguring my pale skin. Others are barely there at all.   
My stomach feels suddenly heavy, a deep feeling of nausea tugging at my senses. I know exactly how all those cuts got there, but the thought somehow still makes me feel ill. It’s twisted. It’s all so twisted.

Her grip on my wrist lessens slightly as she stares at my marked-up forearm, her mouth forming a small _O._ “There…there’s more.” I whisper. It’s already out in the open now- no reason to prevent her seeing the full horror.

Jesse grasps my other wrist and makes the same motion, revealing the same thing. Ever so gently, she touches one of the oldest scars on my left arm- a fat, pale white one up near the crook of my elbow. “Who…how did this happen? Who did this to you?” she whispers, voice hushed by…shock? Horror? Some mix of both?

I can’t look at her. I can’t look at anything. Though my eyes are fixed on a far wall of the cave, I’m not seeing it. “Why do you assume someone else did it to me?”

“This-this looks like some form of _torture_!” she exclaims. “How the hell did this happen?!”

I keep my head turned away. I honestly don’t know if I can speak the words aloud. I set my jaw in a firm line, hoping she’ll take it as a sign to drop it.

She doesn’t. Snapping her fingers in front of my face, she demands, “ _Aiden_. What the fuck is this? What happened?”

I drag in a deep breath. I cannot, absolutely _cannot_ , believe I’m admitting this to Jesse, of all people.

But it fits, somehow, in a way I don’t know how to describe.

“I…it was…tally marks. You know. To keep track of the days. I…they…Isa had her guards take all my weapons…but there’s a little knife I keep stashed in the side of my boot. They…they didn’t find it.” My voice is echo-quiet as I tear my sentences to fragments and stammer through every other word, but I can tell by Jesse’s expression that she’s following.

I force myself to look at her for a moment. I can’t hold her gaze long enough to keep talking, so I tip my head back and stare at the cave ceiling instead. “I…I would… _mark_ myself, I guess is the best way to say it. Every morning. To stop myself from slipping into a monotonous haze. It…kept me sane.”

“Didn’t that hurt, though? Some of these are pretty deep.” She asks cautiously.

Another glance at her, then away. I haven’t talked to anyone about _this_ since Lukas, and now that was years ago. My throat feels thick as I say, “Yeah. It hurt. That was kind of the point.” 

_Kind of._ It was the whole point. A reminder that I was still alive- still breathing, still bleeding. If your mind is deep enough in darkness, pain can be a relief. 

Jesse doesn’t say anything for a few moments, still examining the marks on my arm. She gently runs her thumb down the rows of scars and scratches, so lightly I hardly feel it.

“Did you only start doing this in the prison?” she inquires warily, though I have a feeling she already knows the answer.

“Doing it every day? Yeah. Doing it at all…?” I pause for another few seconds. These words are so simple, but they’re so hard to force out. “…No.” 

I don’t need to say anything else. She doesn’t need to know how awful it used to be, how I’d turn to slicing myself up as an escape- if not a solution -for anything that brought me down. Even if it wasn’t my fault, I’d still always end up punishing myself.

She finally releases my arm, folding her hands in her lap. “I didn’t…I didn’t know that about you.” she says, somewhat awkwardly.

“That’s ‘cause for most of my career as a depressed fool, there were exactly _three_ people who knew, aside from myself.” I reply, my voice falsely light.

For some reason, her expression hardens slightly, looking less melancholy that before. “Yeah, but…I’m usually at least decent at reading people. I never…you never showed a single sign of it, at least not from an outside perspective. I always just…”

Now it’s her turn to look at the floor and refuse to meet my eyes. “Well. I always thought you were just some jerk. I guess I never really paid attention to much beyond that aspect of your personality.”

I shrug, then start pulling my shirt back on. “That’s fair enough. I didn’t pay much attention to your life either.”

“Yeah, aside from pestering me and my friends every chance you got!” she objects, but her tone isn’t angry. She moves back to sitting by the other wall, across from me.

I sweep my arm to the side in a dramatic motion, flooding suddenly with indignance. “Like you guys were never terrible to us?”

Sure, my friends and I had spent years making fun of Jesse’s trio. The ‘Order of the Losers’, as Gill had dubbed them. I admit that. But what you’ll never hear from Jesse is that they were just as bad to us.

They were more subtle about it, playing tricks and whatnot. They used to talk shit about us a lot when we were quite a bit younger; they just weren’t as up-front about it as we were, so it was easier for them to deny it. And I _know_ there was at least one year at the building competition that Olivia actually sabotaged our build, though I still can’t prove it.

Most of the exact incidents have mostly faded from my memory, because after all, it was just childish rivalry stuff. It’s not like it really matters now, but I’m a little offended anyways. My friends and I were never perfect, but at least we didn’t claim to be.

To my surprise, Jesse’s dark-skinned face reddens heavily. “I…we…look, it’s not like…” she stammers, still blushing. I give her a look, and she glances over at me, somewhat sheepishly. “Yeah…no, okay, I know. That’s fair.” 

There’s a sudden noise from outside, a screech that bridges the gap between human scream and Ghast cry. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and I notice Jesse shudder. It brings me back to reality somewhat, reminding me that we’re still in this interesting little predicament.

“Do you think we’ll be able to find that guy tomorrow?” I ask, deciding to change the subject.

She pauses. “Yeah, probably. We really weren’t that far behind him- he’s probably taking shelter somewhere same as we are. We’ll search for him in the morning, and get the Atlas back.”

“And then you can go home. Simple as that.” I say in agreement.

Jesse opens her mouth, looks over at me, shuts it again, and looks away. She reaches up to adjust the blue clip in her hair, subtly hiding her face.

“What?” I prod.

A few heartbeats of quiet pass, and then she nervously asks, “Where are you going to go? You can’t go back to the Sky City world, and I doubt you’d want to come back to Beacontown, so…?”

“I…hadn’t really thought about it.” I murmur. It’s only a half-truth, but she doesn’t need to know that I’ve already been worrying about exactly that. “I guess I could just…jump through a random portal and hope for the best. Maybe that Atlas thing of yours could help me, or something? I don’t know. Let’s just…worry about catching that guy first.”

“Yeah.” she says quietly. “The Atlas could _probably_ help you, I think. Or you could always go back to the two-moons world- the people are a little strange, but it’s safe enough. At least, it’s not as crazy as some of the places out there.” she suggests.

I don’t respond, looking back out at the rain through the cave entrance. It’s coming down hard, and I’m very glad we’re safe and dry in here. I imagine the black-cloaked thief getting stuck out in the storm, and I smile slightly. It would serve him right.

We’re both silent for a little while longer. There’s something I want to say, but I’m not sure if I should. The conversation tonight has been heavy enough already, but I really, _really_ want to come clean about this. 

“Hey…Jesse?” I ask slowly, forcing out the words. She looks over at me. “Can I tell you something kind of weird?”

“Depends on what it is.” she replies simply.

I draw in a deep breath. “It’s about Sky City.”

_“No._ _”_

Jesse adjusts her position, pulling her knees up to her chest and draping her arms around them. Her expression is serious and cold as she repeats, “No. I don’t want to talk about Sky City. Any of it. I just think…if we’re going to keep working together and getting along, it’s much easier to just…brush past the whole topic. I’m not _ignoring_ it, but I don’t want to talk about it.”

“That’s…fair enough. I just think it’s something you might want to know.” I concede, looking over to meet her eyes again. “Really.”

She stares me down for a few moments, then lets out a frustrated-sounding sigh, looking purposely away. I think she’s curious, despite what she just told me. “Fine. If it’s that important…go ahead. Say whatever you want.”

I hesitate for another moment, debating on whether I’m really about to do this. At this point, though, I can’t back out now.

“I don’t remember it.” I say, barely louder than a whisper. “The…the whole mess on Sky City. I don’t remember any of it.”

Jesse looks at me again, raising her eyebrows at my claim. I continue speaking before she can get too suspicious. “I know what happened, at least…mostly. And I recall _some_ things. Emotions, mainly. I remember being scared, and angry, and having an overwhelming feeling of desperation. But all the actual events…all the things I did and decisions I made…I don’t actually remember what happened or how.”

“You’re going to have to give me a bit more to go on than that. You just…you don’t… _what?_ _”_ she asks in disbelief.

“It’s like this,” I start, gesturing with my hands. “Have you ever had a _really_ vivid and weird dream? I’m talking one that actually sticks with you. You know that it was a crazy dream, and you could probably describe the main idea of it to someone. But most of the dream is fuzzy, blurry nothingness. Sometimes you have this _sense_ of something that happened, but the ‘awake’ part of your brain just can’t find what it actually was. For me…Sky City was exactly like that. The whole thing just felt surreal. It’s like those memories have been completely erased, or just never really existed. It’s…I don’t know. That’s the best I can explain it, I think.”

Jesse eyes me warily, then asks, “When did it start? Like, is your memory like that _only_ when you were up on the island?”

She believes me. _She believes me_. I’m taken very off-guard, and end up stammering as I continue. “N-no. I’m- I…my memory fades off a few days beforehand. It's patchy, though. I vaguely remember hearing that you guys were going for that jungle temple, and I remember it making me angry, but I don’t remember deciding to confront you guys out there. Same goes for actually doing it. By the time we apparently followed you there the next day…it’s a complete blur.” 

“Huh.” she grunts noncommittally. “And when did this…dreamy half-amnesia end?”

“At the end of our fight.” I say immediately. “That’s when things start clearing up again. It wasn’t a gradual switch, though. Things are still a little faded directly after that, but I remember giving you back the flint-and-steel. And I _mostly_ remember, well…you know. The fall.”

“Me throwing you off, you mean.” She corrects bluntly. 

I duck my head slightly. “Yeah.”

She stretches her legs out in front of her, leaning back against the wall. “I really…don’t know what to think about that. You’re right, though: I’m glad to know. I just don’t know how to react, I guess.”

I let out a quiet, humourless laugh. “Me neither, honestly. But…you believe me?”

“Yes…at least, I’m pretty sure I do. It doesn’t make any form of sense, but I don’t think you’re lying, if that’s what you mean. I really don’t know.” she says simply. “We should try to get some sleep. I’d like to go after that guy as early as possible tomorrow.”

Evidently not wanting any more of the conversation, Jesse gets up to remove one of the nearer torches, lowering the light level a bit. Then she returns to leaning against the wall, not looking at me again. She’s probably still debating whether or not to believe me.

I stretch out on the stone floor, intentionally facing away from her and folding my jacket under my head. It’s not exactly comfortable, but at least it’s not too cold, even with the rain outside. 

I’m already tired, considering everything that’s happened today, and it’s not long before the constant sound of the rain sends me gradually into sleep.

\----

“Aiden. Aiden, _wake up_.”

I immediately snap awake, and Jesse startles slightly at my sudden motion. “We need to go.” she tells me.

I sit up, dazedly running a hand through my hair. It’s silent outside, not even a whisper of rain or faint sounds of battle. “Are those mob people gone?” I ask.

“Yeah. But I think our thief is poking around the town, and we need to get him.”

“You think?” I repeat.

She hesitates. “Well, there’s _someone_ out there. They’re being really stealthy though; sneaking through shadows and going through buildings a lot, so I think it’s him. How do your injuries feel?”

I roll my shoulders experimentally, stretching my back. “Not terrible, all things considered. Shoulder aches, but it’s manageable. I don’t know if I’d be able to hold my own in another fight, though, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Well, then hopefully we can avoid that.” She stands, then reaches down to help me up. A sting of pain jolts through my side, but I ignore it and tie my jacket around my waist.

Jesse leads the way out of the cave and into the early morning light. The ground is damp from the rainstorm, but the sky is clear now. We quickly return to the ruined town, and I can’t help but notice that it looks to be in even worse shape than before. Those mob people really did a number on it.

I don’t see any movement or other sign of life in the wreckage, though. I’m about to ask Jesse if she’s sure of what she saw when she suddenly grabs my elbow and pulls me into one of the more dilapidated buildings.

“It’s him.” she whispers. Her face is pulled down into a fierce glare, but I think it’s just her ‘determined’ look, not an actual indication of malice.

I peer cautiously out, taking a few seconds before I spot the thief. He has his back mostly to us, his long black cloak flowing dramatically around him as he walks. This guy just _radiates_ villain energy.

He enters a particularly large building at the end of a main street. I’d noticed that place yesterday, but couldn’t figure out what it was for. It’s much larger than most of the buildings that I assume are houses and shops, and the shape doesn’t give me any clues.

Jesse steps out of the hiding place, moving closer. I briefly wonder how her thoughts towards me have changed since last night- there was a lot of heavy stuff thrown around, and while I _think_ it’s made her a little less aggressive against me, I’m not sure yet.

I don’t know if she trusts me. And because of that, I’m not sure if I can trust _her_. A lot of the things I told her last night could easily be used against me, though I don’t think Jesse’s the kind of person to do that. While I doubt she’s actively plotting against me, I’m too paranoid to be confident of this.

For now, I stamp down the doubt and follow her. She presses her back against the wall of the large building, just out of sight from the door, and signals for me to do the same on the other side. When he comes out, we’ll easily be able to ambush and overpower him.

But he doesn’t come out. Moments stretch into minutes, with no sign of the strange man and no sound from inside.

I quickly get impatient, and lean cautiously inside.

“Aiden! What are you doing!” Jesse hisses in a whisper.

“Uh…Jesse? He’s gone.” I tell her. The building is one large room, and it’s completely empty of life.

“What!” she shouts. I duck fully inside, and she’s quick to follow me, running in with no hesitation. “How the hell did…oh. NotchDAMMIT.”

I quickly see what prompted that reaction. At the far end of the room is another portal, the frame made of quartz, lapis blocks, and coal. The center swirls in shades of blue, and Jesse runs for it. “Come on! He’s already back in the Network! If we’re quick enough, maybe we’ll still be able to catch him before he goes into another world!”

She leaps into the portal, and I’m right behind her, my vision fading into spirals of lapis-blue.

It looks like this little chase isn’t going to be over just yet.


	6. Jesse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just realized it was Monday like 10 minutes ago so this chapter is unedited and therefore icky

I don’t have words for how furious I am. He gave us the slip _again_! Did he somehow know we were following, or was it just chance that he went through right then?

I’m too angry to truly consider which is more likely. _He got away_.

The world forms, and I’m surprised to find myself already standing on solid ground, instead of a nice little fall. Aiden appears just a few feet away from me, and I notice we’re both standing on bright blue circles of some material I don’t recognize.

I lift my head, and am immediately blown away by what I see. We’re in a city, and a _massive_ one. There’s people milling around every which way, on the wide streets between the strangely-shaped, sky-scraping buildings. Everything is colourful, like it’s lit up by beacons from the inside. 

It’s strange, but it’s beautiful, like the kind of place you’d see in a dream.

“Whoa. The hell is this place?” Aiden asks, wide-eyed.

I don’t answer, not having one in the first place. There’s high-up bridges stretching between the largest of the buildings, and many people are carrying odd gadgets that I can’t begin to imagine the function of. And there’s a strong sense of _life_ here, an energy that I don’t know how to describe. This is a world in motion.

“Oh, hi there!” A voice exclaims.

I jump, my eyes landing on a girl standing right in front of me. I’d been so engrossed in looking around that I hadn’t noticed her approach.

I do a double-take, trying to register what I’m seeing. She looks like _me._ A lot like me.

She blinks as well, obviously having the same thought. I start to realize that no, we’re not identical. Her brown skin is ever so slightly paler, and she has vibrant green eyes instead of dark grey. And her black hair is pulled into a ponytail, not left loose to fluff into a cloud like mine.

But similarities remain in her short stature and the shape of her face, and it doesn’t help that she has on lavender overalls similar to the blue ones I usually wear.

“Ah…hello. Where in the Overworld _are_ we?” Aiden asks. She glances over at him, smiling again.

“This is Raikon! One of the largest, most tech-advanced cities in the Network, _and_ a very common spot for travelers. What brings you two here?”

I hesitate for a moment, looking around at the city again. No sign of the black-cloaked man. “We’re, um…actually trying to catch a thief. We’ve chased him through two worlds already, but he keeps getting away.” I tell her.

“It doesn’t look like we’ll have any luck with finding him in this mess.” Aiden observes, frowning thoughtfully at the large crowd. “We weren’t _that_ far behind, but we’ve already seen he has a knack for disappearing.”

The girl claps her hands together. “A thief! So exciting!”

“It’s not all that fun.” Aiden crabs, rolling his shoulder.

I quickly try to form a plan. Aiden’s right- we don’t have a hope of finding him in all these people. Not to mention we have no idea what this city is or how it’s laid out. But judging by our previous experiences with him, he probably won’t stay in this world long. I’m hoping this girl will be willing to help us- this will go much easier if we have someone who knows the city on our side. “Ah…is there an exit portal anywhere near here? You said you got a lot of travelers, so…?”

The girl nods. “Yep. Well, I don’t know if I’d say it’s _near_ , but it’s not, like, on the other side of the city. You think your thief will be headed there?”

“Yeah, I’m hoping so. We really need to catch him.” I tell her.

“Well, then you’re lucky you got me. I’ll get you to the portal in no time.” she declares. She turns away, and beckons for us to follow. “I’m Jocelyn, by the way, and my job is to help new people navigate the city. I know the whole place like the back of my hand- your thief won’t get away on my watch!”

I start to follow, then nearly trip over my own feet as her words register. “I’m sorry, your name’s _Jocelyn?_ _”_ I echo, taken off-guard.

“Yeah…why?” she asks, glancing back over her shoulder.

I shake my head absent-mindedly. “It just…sounds a lot like my name, is all. Took me by surprise.”

Aiden narrows his eyes at me. “Huh? ‘Jocelyn’ doesn’t sound anything like ‘Jesse’.”

I keep my gaze trained on the other girl as she weaves past a few people on the street. “Yeah, but that’s not my real name. My spawnname is Jesslyn. I just shortened it to Jesse because I thought that one was too…formal, I guess? I don’t know, I just never really liked it.”

“Whoa. That…is really similar, actually. And you noticed how much she looks like you, right? Am I just making that up?” he checks, lowering his voice.

“Oh, I noticed. It’s a little unnerving, to tell the truth.” I murmur back.

Jocelyn looks back to make sure we’re still with her. “So you’re Jesse…and what’s your name?” she asks.

“This is Aiden. We’re…collaborating, to catch the thief.” I tell her. Aiden makes a strange face at ‘collaborating’, but doesn’t object. Truth be told, I’m not really sure what to call him besides that. We’re not exactly friends, but after everything that happened last night…I can’t exactly say we’re rivals anymore, either.

I think I’m still a little bit in shock about what he told me, about everything. Learning that he didn’t remember Sky City is one thing, but somehow the cuts on his arms is what shook me up the most. I’d always seen him as this unshakeable, arrogant person, and now I feel frankly quite stupid to never have considered that may have all just been a show.

“We’ll take the monorail- it’ll be fastest. Do you know why your thief came here?” Jocelyn asks.

“No idea. He might’ve just been looking for an escape from us. Or he wanted to go back to the portal hall and wound up here instead…or there’s something here he wants.” Aiden muses. “The problem is, we just don’t know enough about him, except that he stole a valuable artifact from Jesse and gave both of us an ass-kicking. We’re still trying to figure out his motive and who he even is.”

I get the urge to kick him to make him stop revealing information, but I resist. He’s not spilling actual secrets, so I guess it’s fine.

Jocelyn sighs. “You guys are so lucky. I’ve lived here my whole life and been helping travelers for years, but I really wish I could actually _see_ the Portal Network. I’ve heard plenty of stories, and it sounds amazing.”

“It’s…not quite the paradise you might be imagining.” I say hesitantly. “There’s a lot of really weird stuff out there. I’m not denying that it’s amazing, but it’s also really dangerous at times.”

“ _I_ _’ll_ say.” Aiden mutters. I roll my eyes, but don’t say anything. He’s barely seen _any_ of the weirdness the Network has to offer.

“Yeah, I’ve heard that too. Part of the reason I’ve never left home. Raikon is a really safe place, so I doubt I’d be prepared for…well, anything.” she replies, her voice taking on an ever-so-slightly regretful tone.

We enter a very large, doorless, open-air building. Jocelyn quickens her steps, gesturing back for us to hurry. “Come on! We got here just in time- the monorail usually doesn’t wait long.”

“The hell’s a monorail?” Aiden asks her, but doesn’t get a reply.

Jocelyn leads the way into a large white tram-like contraption, sitting immediately down on one of the benches inside. “We’re only two stops from the exit portal. Should get there well before your thief does.”

“I hope so.” I say, sitting down across from her. “He’s really slippery. Something tells me it might not be that easy.”

The section we came through slides shut, and the tram begins to move smoothly forward. Aiden stiffens slightly in surprise, and I glance out the window as we move out into the city. “Oh, I see. This is like a minecart system, on a larger scale. Neat!”

Jocelyn leans forward, setting her elbows on her knees and resting her chin on her hands. “Yeah, exactly. Sorry, I should’ve explained things better, but I figured time was of the essence. I know this place seems pretty strange if you come from a more traditional part of the Network.”

“Nah. I’d rather be confused than waste time. Plus, this isn’t nearly the strangest place I’ve been to.” I assure her, then sit up straighter as a thought occurs to me. “Oooh, do you guys have anything like computers here?”

She laughs. “Computers? Yeah, I’d say so. W-wait…wait, how do you know what a computer is? I thought you came from a trad world.”

“‘Trad world’?” Aiden echoes, at the same time I say, “ _Loooong_ story. I kind of met an evil one.”

Jocelyn gestures to Aiden. “Sorry. A ‘trad world’ is what we call worlds that by default aren’t…majorly whacked in some way or another? You know. Normal logic mechanics, human people, basic stuff. From the way you two look and act, you seem to come from a trad world. _This_ is definitely not one.” she explains briefly, then looks wide-eyed at me. “And _what_ did you just say?”

“I kind of met an evil, super-smart computer a couple months back.” I tell her. “The world it was in was pretty basic, but this thing enslaved a whole civilization. It was a nightmare to take down.”

Aiden and Jocelyn are both staring at me now. “You’re telling me you fought a super-AI?” Jocelyn breathes.

“Why haven’t I heard about this?!” Aiden demands.

I shrug. “I dunno what AI means, but I guess so. And…it just wasn’t relevant?” I say to each of them in turn.

Jocelyn sits back, crossing her arms. “AI stands for artificial intelligence. A computer that enslaves a whole world _definitely_ counts as one, especially if it really did come from a trad world. If whoever built it is still around, you’ll have to send them our way. I’d love to meet them. We don’t use a whole lot of super advanced AI here in Raikon, for fear of something like that happening. We have really good tech, sure, but around eighty percent of it still has a human brain controlling it.”

“Alright. If I see Harper again, I’ll tell her to come here. She’d get a kick out of this place.” I agree.

I suddenly realize that we’ve been going at a steady incline, and that the track is now weaving between the buildings. I gasp and scoot closer to the window again, looking in awe down at the colourful streets below. I’ve never been in a city this big, and certainly never seen one from this near bird’s-eye view. It’s strangely beautiful, seeing all the people and things in paper-doll form below. We aren’t really that high, but it’s an interesting perspective nonetheless.

Soon, we pull into another station, and the door slides open automatically. I notice people coming and going from other compartments, and give Jocelyn a questioning look. “We’re not off til after the next stop.” she says with a shake of her head.

From outside, there’s a shout of “Hey, Jocelyn!” and two people come running into our compartment. Well, one runs in, and the other trails behind, looking mildly grumpy.

Jocelyn grins. “Hi guys! I thought you’d already left!”

“Nah, not til tomorrow.” the running person says, plopping down on the bench next to her. “Right now we’re on our way to meet Adchaste on the south side of the city, and I happened to see you just in time. Who’s this?”

“This is Aiden and Jesse. I’m taking them to the main exit portal.” Jocelyn summarizes quickly as the second person sits as well. To us, she says, “Oh, and this is Rani and Rinnaya- they’re world-jumpers like you two.”

Rani, the first person, waves exuberantly. They have green eyes and bright teal hair that’s cropped just above their shoulders, and two rectangular objects that look suspiciously like glowsticks are attached to their wrists by a pair of bracelets. They wear colourful, loose clothing, and overall give off an air of friendly energy.

Rinnaya’s rusty-orange hair is pulled into two low ponytails, and she gives us a brief nod by way of greeting. She’s the first person I’ve seen here (other than myself) wearing something that could be described as ‘armour’- platings in orange and several shades of silvery-grey cover her body.

“Are you from a trad world too?” Rani asks.

“Yeah. Kind of a big dose of cultureshock seeing this place.” I say as the monorail begins moving again.

They laugh. “Yeah, no kidding. There’s a lot of worlds- and dimensions -a whole lot weirder, but this’ll still bounce your brain pretty good. You should see the dimension Rinnaya’s from. It’s beautiful, but there’s a ton of crazy stuff.”

I’m tempted to ask what they mean by ‘dimension’ as opposed to ‘world’, but decide that might be too complex a conversation. Then Jocelyn asks them about something else, and I’m quickly distracted by looking out the window again. If only we had more time; I’d love to see this place more in-depth.

“The Network really is weird, huh? Like, Sky City was strange enough, but this is just so…different.” Aiden says quietly. “Compared to our home, it’s…well, it doesn’t seem real.”

“Yeah, exactly. I think most of the worlds I went to with the rest of the Order were still ‘trad worlds’- they were all fairly weird, but they all operated under mainly the same logic. I’d kinda like to know the exact parameters for what’s a trad world and what’s not, honestly. It might be interesting.” I muse thoughtfully.

Aiden frowns slightly. “Yeah, maybe. I don’t want to spend more time here than necessary, though. I just…I don’t think I like it.”

I shrug. “Fair enough. Plus, our top priority is stopping that guy.”

I briefly wonder if the warring mob-people world we visited qualifies as a trad world or not. I’d assume it didn’t- Jocelyn had mentioned ‘human people’ when describing what the classification meant.

The minutes pass quickly, and soon we’re in and out of another station. Rani, Jocelyn, and I make simple conversation, talking about the differences between our worlds and the general strangeness of the Network. Rinnaya contributes to this a bit, but she and Aiden remain mostly quiet.

It's nice to be able to talk to someone else not native to this world- makes me feel a little less out of place. Rani throws around several strange phrases that I can only assume are common slang in their world. Though really, who knows- judging by Rinnaya’s frequent sighs and eyerolls that follow said phrases, it might just be them.

Aiden seems tense, keeping his posture straight and his hands folded in his lap. His jacket is still tied around his waist, and I can see faint edges of his cuts under his arms. I wouldn’t notice them if I hadn’t already known where to look.

I can’t tell if he’s just keeping his guard up, or if there’s something else going on. I doubt he’d tell me if I asked, so I don’t. But the question remains on my mind.

The city streaks along past us, and we soon end up level to the ground again. The two stations we passed through had been higher up, but this next one’s lower. Jocelyn stands as the monorail slows to a stop. “We’re off here. Good seein’ you, R and R.” she says to the other two travelers.

“Yeah. Maybe we’ll seeya again before we go.” Rani says. “And it was nice meeting you guys, too.” 

“Same here.” I tell them sincerely as Aiden and I follow Jocelyn.

As we’re heading out of the station and back into the city’s streets, Aiden mutters to me. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

I look over at him, surprised. “About what?”

“I…don’t know. Something just seems weird.” He says hesitantly, shaking his head.

“That’s not a lot to go on.” I tell him. I’m not quite sure what he means- maybe he’s still shaken up by the strangeness of this world, and it’s coming out as paranoia? Or is he onto something that I’m just not catching?

Right across from the monorail station is the open gates to a large botanical garden. I’d seen several parks as we were passing through the city, but this one looks exceptionally large and beautiful. I notice that the words ‘Portal Gardens’ are inscribed in the arc over the gates, and can’t resist a quiet laugh.

Aiden scowls at Jocelyn. “You people keep your exit portal in a _garden_?” he asks in disbelief.

She shrugs. “Yeah. Look, portals show up anywhere. Building one is a different thing entirely, but this one spawned on its own. So we built a garden around it.” she explains. “Like I said, the city is really safe. We don’t usually have any reason to keep people away from it.”

Aiden grumbles under his breath, but doesn’t say anything as we enter the gates. Jocelyn leads us straight down the middle path, keeping her footsteps quick. Part of me is very tempted to slow down and look around, but I know we can’t. It’s a shame the rest of the Order and I never stumbled across this world when we were on our adventure several months ago- there had been no real time constraints then.

I see the portal frame almost immediately. It’s a particularly pretty one, made of grey glazed terracotta, emerald, and glass, with a glowing white center. I relax slightly, but at the same time, Jocelyn stumbles despite the perfectly smooth path.

“Wait…wait no, this isn’t right.” she murmurs, recovering her balance and pushing into a jog.

Then I notice that there are two people crumpled beside the portal, standing slowly up as though recovering from an attack.

_Oh, no._

“The portal isn’t supposed to be lit! He must’ve already gone through!” Jocelyn cries. “But _how_?! He got here so fast!”

She hurries to help up one of the two people that I assume were guarding the portal; a young man with pale skin and dark hair. “Jared? Are you alright? What happened?”

“I…I don’t really know. This guy- he came out of nowhere, used some nasty potion on us.” The man tells her. His voice sounds weak, and I quickly guess he got hit with some version of a Potion of Harming.

“What did he look like?” Aiden demands.

The other guy shakes his head, coughing slightly. “I couldn’t tell. He was dressed in all black. Had a long cloak on, and a mask over his face. And he had a portal key! A gold one!”

“Oh, hell.” I mutter. “Jocelyn, thank you for all your help, and I wish I could stay, but we need to get out of here. We _can_ _’t_ let that guy get to another portal.”

“Okay. Good luck.” she says. Before she’s even done speaking, Aiden’s jumped through the portal, and I immediately follow.

I’m swallowed by the white light for several long seconds, before appearing back in the dim hall of the Portal Network. For a second, I think I’m alone. But Aiden’s there- already running down the hall towards a flash of pale blue light.

“Come on! I think I saw which portal he went through!” he calls back.

I quickly chase after him. “How did he get there so fast?! There’s no _way_ he could’ve beat us on foot, even if he knew where to go!”

“I have no idea. Maybe he used another Potion of Speed, or something? I don’t get it.” he guesses, right as he jolts to a stop in front of a portal. “I’m pretty sure this is it. It looked like he disappeared right around here, and this is the only portal here with a blue center.”

This portal is slightly wider than some, made primarily of iron blocks with some spruce wood on the side. Two blocks of polished diorite sit at the top, and the center glows in the same shade of light blue I saw when I first entered the Network. “I’ll take your word for it.” I say.

I start to walk into it when Aiden says, “You…will?”

This makes me pause, not understanding his question at first. Then I shrug, a light smile crossing my face. “Yeah. Why, should I not?” I ask insincerely.

“No, no, you just…I didn’t…nevermind. Let’s go.” he stammers.

Bemusedly, I keep my eyes trained on him for a few moments, then turn back and head into the portal.

I land gracefully on my feet, prepared for the drop this time. I step out of the way as Aiden appears beside me, falling into a crouch and briefly clutching at his side. A quick glance around tells me we’re in a spruce biome, standing on the sandy shore of a large lake. The sun is bright above us, and this time I can clearly see the thief running some ways ahead of us.

I bolt straight into a run, my boots making soft _shft-shft_ sounds on the sand. I don’t even check if Aiden’s with me, just hurtle after the thief as fast as I can. This could be our chance.

His steps are quick but unconcerned as he makes his way up a small incline, and for a moment, I think we’ve got him. But he suddenly turns, out of paranoia or the will of some spiteful god, and catches sight of us running towards him.

He takes off, bolting rapidly through the trees. I growl in frustration and try to pick up my speed, but the hill slows me down. By the time I’m on level ground again, he’s barely a shadow, slipping untraceably between the branches of the spruce trees.

“NotchDAMMIT!” I yell, stamping my foot as I lose sight of him. “How does he keep doing that!”

“To be fair, you’re not very fast.” Aiden contributes.

I level a glare at him, but he doesn’t seem to notice. He’s clutching at his side again, looking out at where the thief vanished. No new blood has seeped through the bandage, but the slash wound is obviously still giving him pain. We really do need to find him a Healing Potion soon.

“Hey, look at that.” Aiden says, extending a hand to point at something. “Is that…I think there’s a town over that way. There’s _something_.”

I follow his gaze. We’re on just enough of a vantage point to see glimpses of rooftops over the treetops, and a billow of smoke from a chimney. I don’t know if the thief would’ve gone into civilization, but right now, it’s our best shot.

“Should we check it out?” he asks with hesitant eyes.

I exhale, forcing myself to relax and let go of my frustration. “Sure. The journey continues, I guess.”


	7. Jesse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i wasn't able to get online on monday, then i forgot on tuesday, and now it's wednesday evening. here's a kinda crap chapter cause i keep forgetting to edit ahead yeehaw

The trees thin out slightly as we gradually approach the town, and we keep our eyes open for any sign of the thief. There’s not even a whisper of him, though, and I’m beginning to feel like we’ll need a different tactic if we’re going to catch him.

For now, though, our best shot is getting back to the Portal Network. _Again_.

A bridge over a small part of the lake takes us to the beginnings of the paths, and I feel myself relaxing slightly as I look around. As far as I can tell, this looks like a pretty basic place- a ‘trad world’, as Jocelyn would call it.

The town is a fairly small one, houses all made of cobblestone and different amenities from spruce wood. Not all of the trees have been cleared, and several particularly tall ones stand alongside the houses.

There’s plenty of people out and about, but we aren’t paid much mind as we make our way down the narrow paths. A few people nod or wave at us, but there’s not much surprise in their reactions.

Aiden shields his eyes as he looks up at the sky. “It’s only like midmorning here. I _cannot_ get over the time differences between worlds.” He murmurs.

“Yeah, it’s pretty weird. You…” I hesitate for a moment, rethinking my words. “Well. I was going to say you get used to it, but you don’t, really. It just seems less jarring after a couple worlds, I guess.”

An orange fox darts suddenly across our path, and I nearly stumble in surprise. I’ve rarely seen foxes in real life- I don’t spend much time in spruce biomes, and I’m definitely not used to seeing them so close to civilization. This place must have a unique relationship with nature.

We pass a few gardens and a well, and I notice that Aiden keeps glancing around in a paranoid sort of way.

“What?” I prompt.

He shakes his head slightly. “This place seems so _normal_. After the other things we’ve seen so far…I don’t really know what to make of it.”

“That’s fair. But as far as I know, there’s more ‘normal’ worlds in the Network than not. I think we just had the bad luck to stumble across two strange ones right away.” I tell him.

“How many more _strange ones_ will we be going through before this is over?” Aiden mutters darkly.

I pause for a moment, shrugging. “I…don’t know. Hopefully not any more.”

He sighs, visibly pushing his expression into something lighter. “Yeah. Hopefully.”

Deciding to change the topic, I look briefly around at the cobblestone and spruce buildings again. “I wonder if people are used to travelers here. They seem really chill about us.” I note. 

“We are.”

The girl’s voice startles me bad, and I jump several inches, nearly tripping over my own feet again as I hurry to turn around. Aiden is a little more graceful about it, but he’s clearly surprised as well.

The girl standing on the path behind us is short, with long red hair that fades to a pale yellow at the tips. Her blue eyes are curious as she looks between us, her hands hidden self-consciously behind her back.

She’s young, probably thirteen at the very most. I instinctively stiffen a bit- I’m not very good with kids.

“There’s a big town a while that way,” she continues, pointing in the direction I think is east. “so a lotta people come through here. Is that where you guys are going?”

I pause, not sure what to say. Aiden bends slightly so he’s not towering over her as much, and says, “Not exactly. We’re actually looking for somebody- have you seen any other strangers come through here today?”

His tone is surprisingly gentle, a lot more so than I’m used to hearing. The girl shakes her head shyly. “No. Just you.”

“Shoot.” I mutter. I didn’t really think he’d come through here, but that hadn’t stopped me from hoping. 

“Is the person you’re looking for the one who did that?” she asks, pointing to the wound on Aiden’s shoulder. I narrow my eyes slightly. This kid is very intuitive, almost eerily so. Are kids just…like that sometimes?

He nods ruefully. “Yeah. He’s not very nice, and we’re trying to catch him before he causes any more trouble.”

The blue eyes widen into a look of awe. “You’re…villain hunters?” 

“I guess you could say that. We’re more adventurers than anything else.” Aiden tells her with a slight laugh. “My name’s Aiden, and this is Jesse.”

“I’m Feather.” The girl says, then reaches into her inventory. “Um…my friend and I noticed you were injured. He likes to make potions a lot, so we were wondering if you wanted this.” She holds out a bright pink Healing Potion.

Aiden hesitates for a second. “Are you sure? I don’t want to im-”

“Thank you. He needs it.” I interrupt pointedly, and Aiden sheepishly takes the bottle from her.

As he quickly swallows the potion, Feather points to a boy standing near the well, clearly watching us but trying to make it seem like he’s not. “My friend’s over there. He’s afraid of new people, so he made _me_ come over to talk to you.” she informs us. Then she cups her hands around her mouth to shout, “KELSEY! C’mere, they’re nice!”

I glance over at Aiden, and see that the wound on his shoulder has healed to a faint pink mark. The one on his side should be gone as well, judging by the way his stance shifts. “Oh, that’s _so_ much better. I’d been completely blocking out the pain- I didn’t realize how much it’d been aching.”

The boy has approached us as well, and is listening as Feather rattles off our names. He’s nearly as tall as me, with short reddish-brown hair. He has several bandaids on his arms, and is wearing a purple-and-white striped shirt that makes me think of Lukas.

“I’m Kelsey. Are you guys really real adventurers?” he inquires with a shy smile.

I smile slightly as well. “Yep. We’ve seen more things than you could even imagine.”

“We wanna be adventurers too when we get older.” Kelsey informs us.

“It’s a little more difficult than it seems on the surface.” I can’t help but say. I don’t at all want to crush his dreams, but at this point that type of response is nearly automatic.

He gives me an appraising look, his confidence not the slightest bit shaken. “We know. It sure didn’t stop you, and we’re not quitters either.”

Aiden suddenly glances over at me with a significant expression, but I don’t catch onto what he’s implying. Sighing slightly, he says to the two kids, “So, you guys probably know this place like the back of your hand, but we’re not from around here. Do you know of anything around here that might look like…” he hesitates for a few moments to search for words, then gives up. “Well, that looks like a portal? The guy we’re trying to track down…he’d be heading for something like that.”

Kelsey frowns. “Hm. I don’t…I’m not sure…”

Feather, on the other hand, immediately perks up. “Oh! There’s this weird thing in a nearby temple…it’s sort of portal-like?”

“What, that iron thing? No it’s not!” Kelsey protests. “You’ve seen what a Nether Portal looks like- whatever that thing is, it’s _not_ a portal.” 

Feather crosses her arms. “It’s the right shape. _I_ think it looks like one.” she argues.

My gaze slides briefly over to Aiden’s frown. “That could be it. Portals can be pretty weird sometimes. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that the classic Nether-Portal shape is an odd one out.” I tell them. Plus, the one that led to this world was mostly iron, and temples seem to be a pretty common portal location from what I’ve seen.

Feather sticks her tongue out at her friend, and Aiden asks, “How far is it from here? Could you tell us how to get there?”

“Yeah! It’s not far, we’ve gone there a lot.” Feather says. “It’s like half an hour _that_ way- you gotta go over the west bridge and take a right past the crevice, then through the little valley and-”

“I know- how bout we just take you?” Kelsey offers, interrupting Feather’s stream of directions.

Aiden laughs. “Sure, sounds good. So long as that’s alright with you.”

Feather gives him an enthusiastic affirmative, but I’m only paying partial attention to her. I’m getting used to this new ‘nice Aiden’, but he keeps catching me off-guard. He’s never been this simply _considerate_ before, and although I should possibly be suspicious of this shift in personality, I’m not.

“Hey, if we’re going out there, we should get Tate.” Kelsey tells Feather. “Y’know how mad he’d be if we did something cool without him.”

She grins, looking abruptly mischievous. “Oh, of course. You definitely wouldn’t want to leave your _boyfriend_ behind.”

“He’s _not my boyfriend_.” Kelsey mutters, indignantly but unconvincingly. 

Feather’s impish expression doesn’t change. “Sure, sure.” She turns, waving for us to follow. “Come on. We’ll find Tate, and show you the way to the temple.”

She leads us quickly through the rest of the town, with Kelsey in tow. They both ramble a bit about the town and their everyday lives, but I’ve slipped into inattentiveness again. Our suspicious thief will most likely be ahead of us by a lot, but hopefully not enough for us to lose us entirely. Unless he doesn’t know where the portal is…though he’s seemed strangely knowledgeable of their locations so far. I wonder if that’s because he has the Atlas, or if he somehow already knows.

Aiden is at least being better than me, keeping up with the kids’ conversation. He laughs genuinely at something Feather says, and I can’t help but smile as well. I had no idea he was so good with kids, and it’s honestly a little amusing to find out.

I suppose there’s a lot of things I don’t know about him, since our long-standing rivalry prevented us from learning about each other properly. I think I’ll need to say it directly to him sooner rather than later- we’re _not_ rivals anymore. I’m still not sure if we’re friends yet, but I know we’re definitely not enemies.

Suddenly, this whole quest seems…different, somehow. It’s just another adventure. It doesn’t matter if Aiden and I end up being truly friends or just collaborators- we have a mission, and we’re going to fulfill it.

This mindset makes me feel suddenly cheery, and I quicken my steps to catch up to the others. Kelsey suddenly bolts ahead, running up to a blond boy sitting on the steps of a cobblestone building. He appears to have been carving something into the handle of an iron pickaxe, but I can’t see what it is before he puts it into his inventory.

Kelsey is talking at a hundred blocks a minute as he rattles off who we are and our destination, but the other boy seems to understand him fine. He stands, cautiously extending a hand to me.

“Hi. I’m Tate. You’re really letting _these_ _two_ show you the way to the temple?” he asks as I accept the handshake. He looks to be around the same age as Feather and Kelsey, though something about him makes him seem older.

“I…guess so?” I reply, though it comes out as a question.

He scoffs, shooting an amused look at Feather. “Bad idea. Feather gets lost even going to our local mine. She’d lead you around in circles for the rest of the day.”

“I would NOT!” Feather objects loudly, but the sudden redness of her cheeks tells a different story.

Tate elbows her. “Right, of _course_.”

Feather sticks her tongue out at him, and I can’t help but laugh. My friends and I were exactly the same at this age.

“Let’s just go! We’re got a time limit!” Kelsey implores, tugging on the sleeve of Tate’s shirt.

With that, we head off quickly leaving the small town behind. The tall grass rustles under our feet, and the kids stay in the lead, continuing their playful banter. Now that it’s on my mind, they really are similar to my friends- Tate has almost the exact same attitude as Petra, and Feather reminds me of a younger Olivia, in a way I’m not fully sure how to describe. And Kelsey…well, he almost seems like _me_.

I absent-mindedly sink into a slight frown. What had he said earlier, about them wanting to be adventurers too?

I’m looking too deeply into this. It’s just a coincidence that they remind me of my friends. What am I thinking, that they’re the beginnings of some…alternate-universe version of us?

Aiden falls into step with me, leaning slightly to catch my gaze. “Are you worried about the thief getting too far ahead of us?” he asks.

I shake my head slightly, more in surprise than as an answer. “Uh…not really. I know he’s got a head start, but I’ve got a good feeling about this. He probably won’t know where the portal is.”

“You don’t think that’s just wishful thinking?” he asks with a raised eyebrow. “He knew right where the other ones were.”

“Well…maybe. But we can still catch him. I know it.” I reply determinedly.

If he’s surprised by my sudden change of heart, he doesn’t show it. His pale green eyes stay trained on mine for a few moments more, then he shrugs and returns to looking ahead.

We cross a bridge spanning a small stretch of river, and Feather suddenly turns, walking backwards to address us. “Have you guys been through a lot of portals? A lot of other worlds? We know that there _is_ more, but we’ve never been to any.”

“A few. She can tell you more about the Portal Network than I could.” Aiden says, gesturing to me.

“Really?” Tate asks, glancing over his shoulder at me.

I nod briskly. “Yeah. Long story short, my friends and I got trapped in the Network around six months ago. It took forever to find our way back home, and we went through all sorts of crazy worlds in the process.”

Feather claps her hands excitedly. “That sounds so cool!” she exclaims, apparently missing the bit about being trapped. She promptly trips over a small berry bush, and Tate hurries to steady her. 

“I feel like having _you_ loose in the Network would end badly.” he mutters, though his tone is more amused than anything else.

Kelsey is the next to turn around to ask a question. “What kinds of ‘crazy worlds’ did you guys find? Were there any weird monsters? What was the coolest place you saw?”

I let out a sudden laugh. “One question at a time!”

I relate some of my portal-hopping adventures as we continue walking, spurred on by the kids’ enthusiasm. I keep my descriptions fairly brief, choosing not to go into some of the true horrors I’d faced out there. For Aiden’s sake, I also don’t elaborate on how, exactly, I found the Network, since I know that bringing up any of our messy past would just make things awkward and confusing.

They’re especially fascinated by my description of the Old Builders’ Games, though Kelsey spends a while convinced I made it up to mess with them. Aiden jumps in to tell them about the mob-people we saw, which I think only makes him more skeptical.

We soon pass by a massive crevice, which I remember was the second landmark Feather mentioned earlier. Both younger boys visibly put themselves between Feather and the long drop down, which I take to mean she has a history of clumsiness. Tate leads confidently, as though he comes this way all the time. For all I know, maybe he does.

This really is just another quest. Going places, meeting people, working towards a goal…I’m used to this. I’d been so worked up by the suddenness of it all that I think I’d forgotten to just enjoy it. Adventuring is my _thing,_ after all- might as well not stay bitter about how this particular one started.

There’s a few animals here and there- mainly brown rabbits and the occasional sheep -but I don’t see any signs of other people as we go further through the woods. It’s not like I _expected_ the thief to leave any handy traces behind, but I still wish there was _some_ way to know if we were devastatingly behind or not.

The uneven ground of the forest begins to level out, opening up into a small valley. Kelsey picks up the pace again, trotting ahead slightly. “We’re almost there! It’s right through here!” 

Tate pushes into a run as well, and the two boys start racing to the end of the little valley, affectionately shoving each other as they go.

“They’re always like that.” Feather informs us in a very matter-of-fact tone. “They’re absolutely crushing on each other, but they’re also both in denial. I don’t get it.”

“I’m familiar with that dynamic.” I grin, thinking of Petra and Lukas and the way they’ve been hopelessly dancing around each other for months. Aiden shoots me a questioning look at this, but doesn’t say anything.

At the end of the valley is a broad, strangely-shaped lake, dotted with a few small islands. And in the center of it, on one of said islands, stands an old-looking building, built primarily of stone brick variants. It blends in fairly well with the tall spruces that grow beside it, and on the whole, looks a lot like many of the other temples I’ve explored in my time as an adventurer.

“I won!” Kelsey announces as we approach where they stand on the lakeshore. Looking around them, I can see a small bridge stretching out to the island that the temple stands on, granting easy access.

“ _Barely_.” Tate adds, crossing his arms. Kelsey elbows him in the ribs, and his serious face breaks into a small smile.

“You think that’s it?” Aiden asks. “Does it look like a portal hideaway to you?”

I nod. “Yeah. Let’s go.” 

I step onto the bridge, heading towards the temple and, hopefully, getting one step closer to home.


	8. Aiden

The inside of the temple is dark and unsettling, and I instinctively want to reach for my sword. But then I remember that I _don_ _’t_ have a sword, so that reflex doesn’t do me a lot of good.

“This is smaller than most temples I’ve seen.” Jesse remarks off-handedly.

It doesn’t seem particularly _small_ to me, but I don’t have as much experience with temples. Judging by Tate’s expression, he’s thinking much the same.

Kelsey pulls a torch from his inventory, illuminating the stone-brick interior. There’s two immediate passageways visible, and Tate points to the leftward one. “The portal- if it is a portal -is down this way. The other way dumps you into this whole big underground maze. We learned that the hard way.”

As Feather confidently leads the way into the left passage, I absent-mindedly ask, “Are there many temples around here?”

“Umm…I wouldn’t say _many_ , but there’s some. A lotta the others are boring, though, all broken down and whatever.” Kelsey says thoughtfully. “Sometimes the wrecked ones have like…exposed traps and stuff though, so that’s pretty cool. Feather likes taking them apart.”

An unexpected pang of loss sinks into my heart. These kids are different from my former friends and I- they’re far more copacetic, and their lives seem simpler somehow. But the way Kelsey explains this so simply is achingly familiar.

Was it a million years ago that me and my friends ruled our own little world, or was it only yesterday?

Jesse asks Tate about the maze he mentioned earlier, and he launches into an enthusiastic explanation. At some point during our hike here, there’s been a shift in Jesse’s attitude. She seems… _brighter_ now, and I wonder what exactly caused that change. I have a feeling it has to do with the kids and their almost tangible enthusiasm.

The passage slants downward, quickly turning into a wide spiral staircase. Our footsteps echo loudly on the stone, and the light from Kelsey’s torch casts eerie, uneven shadows. I’ve always found abandoned temples to be a generally creepy experience, what with their usually unknown origins and the traps that are usually hidden inside. Again, I don’t have the most diverse experience with temples, but I’d honestly prefer to keep it that way.

Tate suddenly pauses, and I nearly trip as I try to avoid bumping into him. Just as quickly, he’s moving again, hurrying down the stairs at a much faster pace.

“Tate? What happened?” Kelsey asks quickly.

“There’s a light down there!” the blond boy calls back, having now passed Feather and continuing his rapid descent.

Jesse stops and glances back at Kelsey, her eyes shifting across mine. “A light? Is…that bad?”

“There just shouldn’t be one, is all.” Feather says, not stopping. “Unless your thief got here before us…”

“Oh, Notch _dammit_.” I mutter, quickly pushing into a jog. If the stairs were just a tiny bit steeper, I wouldn’t dare to go faster than a walk, but I’m not thinking about that right now.

The steps widen into another room like the one above. This one has strange carvings and designs on the walls, but I’m not paying attention to them. My gaze is caught immediately by the lit portal on the far end of the room.

“Notchdammit! How did he get here before us!” I exclaim. We may have lost some time in the village, but how did he even know where the place was? This doesn’t make any sense!

“I guess Feather was right. It _is_ a portal.” Tate mutters, looking fascinatedly at the swirling blue center.

The other three enter the room, and I pivot to face Jesse. “ _How_.” I demand, pointing at the lit portal.

She just shakes her head. “I don’t know. He must’ve just beelined here after we lost him, but then how…?”

She trails off, but I know she’s wondering how he knew it was here. This place is in the middle of nowhere, and even the locals didn’t know its real purpose. It just doesn’t add up.

Feather is triumphantly proclaiming to Kelsey that she _told him_ it was a portal, while Tate examines the iron portal frame with great interest. I let out a deep sigh, trying to let go of my frustration. Nowhere to go but forward, at this point.

“Thanks for your help. We never would’ve found this place without you.” I tell the kids sincerely.

Feather beams up at me. “No problem! Thanks for telling us stuff about the Portal Network- we’re gonna be explorers just like you guys one day!”

“I have no doubt of that.” I tell her with a slight laugh. And it’s true- assuming nothing goes wrong, these beginning adventurers seem exactly like the type to change their world one day.

Jesse lets out a frustrated sigh. “We need to go. I’m just praying this takes us directly to another world instead of back to the Network. If he’s already vanished into a new world…”

“We’ll find him. Somehow.” I tell her, trying to be encouraging and falling a little flat. She just shoots me an unconvinced look, then turns to the trio again.

“Can you guys do a favor for us?” she asks. “After we go through, could you dismantle the portal frame? Not all the way- just take a couple of the iron blocks off or something. I just…if anyone else _nefarious_ comes through here, I have a feeling it’d be better to not make it so easy for them to get out.”

Tate retrieves a pickaxe from his inventory. “Not a problem. Good luck out there.”

“You too. Don’t stop adventuring.” I say. Jesse shoots me a look that seems strangely amused, and I’m guessing she’s reacting to my friendliness towards the kids. She hasn’t really seen much in the way of ‘good sides’ from me, so I can’t exactly fault her surprise.

“Bye!” Kelsey calls as Jesse slips through the portal without a word. I follow her quickly, waving to the trio as the blue light overwhelms me.

For a few seconds, I’m spinning through nothingness. And just as quickly, I’m falling again.

I suck in a surprised gasp as I tumble through the air, then land solidly on top of Jesse with an almost comedic _flump_. The past couple portal hops have been smoother, and I honestly forgot this unpleasant side of portal travel.

“Notch… _fuck_. Get offa me.” Jesse grumbles, voice partially muffled by the grass under her. No, wait. Not grass.

I quickly scramble off her and get to my feet, looking around. It’s suddenly night, and we’re in a Mushroom biome- spongy purple mycelium covers the ground, and all I can see around us is gigantic brown and red mushrooms. We’re in a little valley area, surrounded on two sides by hills.

Jesse brushes herself off, taking in our surroundings as well. “Huh. Mushroom biome. I haven’t been in one of these in _years_.” she comments, her voice oddly light despite…well, everything.

“I’m not sure I’ve _ever_ been to one.” I add, wracking my memory.

She lets out a quiet huff, propping her hands on her hips. “At least we know we’re where we need to be. We gotta find that thief. He can’t be _too_ far ahead of us.”

I’m quite sure he most certainly could be, but I bite my tongue. If she’s feeling hopeful about this, I might as well go with it.

“We should get up there, see if we can spot anything helpful.” she suggests, pointing to one of the hills. “Might be a little hard to find anything since it’s dark, but it’s worth a shot. At least we don’t have to deal with mobs.”

Without waiting for any response from me, she sets off up the gradual incline, practically hopping from block to block. I don’t waste any time in following her, trying to avoid trampling any of the smaller mushrooms. The mycelium feels strange to walk on- my boots sink in just a bit further than they would on grass, and it’s a little disorienting.

We reach the top quickly, and Jesse squints out at the purple and grey scene below us, dotted by the giant mushrooms and washed in dull moonlight. Meanwhile, I look up at the sky. It looks like it’ll be morning soon enough- the half-moon is barely starting to sink lower towards the horizon. The pattern of the stars is unfamiliar, which is unsettling in itself. I’m not familiar with a great number of constellations in our own world, but I can recognize enough to know that there’s certainly none of them here.

It's a jolting kind of reality check. I am so, so far from home.

“Do you see anything?” Jesse asks, and I drag my gaze back down to the landscape.

I see a small flicker of movement out of the corner of my eye and turn, but it’s just a Mooshroom plodding down a different hill. The ground here is very uneven, disrupted by small rises and valleys. It’d be too easy for someone to hide, especially in the dark.

I’m about to reply that no, I don’t see anything, when another sudden motion catches my eye. I instinctively lean forward, narrowing my eyes. That wasn’t a Mooshroom. The red bovines are slow-moving creatures, and there’s no other mobs here that would be running.

“I think…there’s somebody down there.” I say slowly, keeping my voice low.

“The thief?” Jesse asks.

I shrug. “Don’t know. I just saw _something_ move, and it was too fast to be a Mooshroom. Let’s get closer.”

Again, Jesse doesn’t hesitate a moment. She takes off down the opposite side of the hill we came up, jumping down several blocks at a time. She waits for me at the bottom, though, looking up expectantly.

Her expression takes me entirely off-guard. She’s not looking at me like I’m about to do something wrong. There’s no fear or suspicion or hostility in her dark grey eyes. She’s just looking at me like…another person. Not someone who’s created so much bad history.

If anything, she seems excited, and I begin to understand. When it all comes down to it, this is another adventure for her- and if there’s one thing I can say I know for sure about Jesse, it’s that she loves adventure.

“Where did you see him?” she asks.

I shake my head slightly. “I didn’t say I saw _him._ I saw motion _._ ” I correct.

She waves a flippant hand. “Whatever. Point me in the direction, and we’ll see if it’s him or not.”

“Come on. It was going down this way, I think.” I tell her, moving forward again.

We weave through several of the tall brown mushrooms, and Jesse suddenly quickens her steps. “Wait, I saw something! It looked like a person, for sure!”

She prepares to leap forward, but I quickly snag her elbow. She jerks backwards, then glares at me.

“What gives? Let’s get that guy!” she demands quietly.

“Wait. Let’s think about this.” I say. “The first time we went against him head-on, he beat the shit out of us. The second time we tried, he straight-up got away.”

She raises an eyebrow, adopting a doubtful expression. “What do you suggest, then?”

I look around again. There’s definitely someone over there, though I can’t tell what they’re doing. “Let’s sneak up on them, and just…watch. If it’s the thief, maybe we can get a clue as to what the hell he’s up to.”

Jesse hesitates for another moment, and I think she’s going to argue. But then she sighs, and grudgingly says, “Alright, you might have a point.”

We slink closer, gradually approaching the whoever-it-is. The fading moonlight casts strange shadows, and I can’t help but worry about how easy it would be for them to see us.

But they seem too preoccupied with…whatever they’re doing to notice. It _does_ appear to be the thief- his black cloak billows dramatically around him as he walks. He’s pacing around in odd fits and starts, and is examining a glowing object in his hands.

Jesse suddenly inhales a deep gasp. She quickly ducks behind a large white-spotted scarlet mushroom, pulling me with her. “That’s the Atlas! He has the Atlas!” she hisses.

I can only assume she means the glowing object he’s holding. I remember her briefly mentioning that it was a ‘magic book that can help you navigate the Portal Network’, but I have no idea what-all that entails. And judging by the way she’s staring at the thief in disbelief, I’m not sure she does either.

I mimic her, leaning around the edge of the enormous mushroom to watch the thief. “What’s he doing?” I mutter.

“I’m not sure. But I’ll tell you one thing for sure- I don’t know him.” She says back.

“What?” I ask in a low voice, not sure what she means by that.

She steps back, so she’s fully hidden by the mushroom again. “The lighting’s not great, but I got a good enough look. Whoever he is, whatever he’s doing…I doubt he was ever specifically after _me_. I don’t recognize him at all.”

“Does that…change things?” I ask, looking over at her.

Jesse rubs her chin with her thumb, frowning thoughtfully. “I’m not sure. In the grand scheme of things, I don’t think so. We still need to get the Atlas back. But it’s…I don’t know, a relief to know that whatever he’s up to, it’s not personally against me? Relief isn’t quite the right word. I don’t know.”

“On the other hand, maybe it’s worse news that he’s not after you.” I muse.

She blinks at me. “Huh?”

“Well, think of it this way. If he had a personal vendetta, his purpose or objectives would be…narrower, I guess?” I attempt to explain. “But with the fact in mind that you don’t recognize him…he could be up to _literally anything_. There’s no way to possibly guess what he might be up to, and thus, no immediate way to stop him.”

Her expression sinks into another frown. “Mmh. Good point. That’s rather obnoxious, then.”

I glance back at the thief. He’s stopped the pacing, and as we watch, retrieves an iron shovel from his inventory and begins digging at a spot under a particularly tall brown mushroom. Unfortunately, there’s a slight dip in the ground where he is, so we’d have to get closer to possibly get a glimpse of what he’s digging for. And as luck would have it, there’d be no way to do that without being seen.

Jesse grumbles a curse under her breath. “What is he _doing_?”

I don’t have an answer. As the moon starts sinking further down the sky and the opposite horizon begins to glow, the unknown man drops the shovel and bends down, and I hear the distinct sound of a chest opening.

I can’t help but lean further out from behind the mushroom, wondering what in the Overworld is happening. This is highly, _highly_ suspicious. Why is there a random chest in the middle of this otherwise-deserted biome? And again, how did he know where to find it?

I glance over at Jesse, wondering if I should voice these questions, but the confused expression she wears leads me to think her thoughts are running much the same way.

Suddenly, the thief stands. I instinctively duck back, but his back is to us now. I catch a glimpse of something glowing a dull violet, but the strange object is put immediately into his inventory.

“The hell was that thing?” Jesse mutters. I’m assuming it’s a rhetorical question, as there’s no way I could possibly know. Jesse is more of a verbal person than I’m used to, and I’ve started to pick up on the fact that she voices most of the thoughts that cross her mind, whether she expects a response or not.

The man suddenly turns, striding off across the dull purple ground. He slips through the dawn shadows with incredible ease, weaving through and around the giant fungi as though he’s little more than a spectre.

I’m somewhat at a loss for words. It feels like we’ve just uncovered a piece of the puzzle that is the thief’s motive, but I have no idea what it is or what to do with it.

As I’m still standing blankly, my brain spinning through possibilities, Jesse nudges me gently. “Aiden, come on. I’ll bet you anything he’s heading for the exit portal, and I’m _not_ letting him get away so easily this time.”

I snap back to reality. “Right, of course. Let’s go.”

She flashes me a quick smile, then turns away. I follow her swiftly, hot on the thief’s trail once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, ,, ,, , I’m really sorry that I have to do this, but this story is going on hiatus for a little bit. I’m not far enough ahead, and it’s stressing me out. There’s a lot of shit going on for me and I haven’t been able to write much in over a month, so I need to get back on track. I really, really hate having to put things on hold, even for a little bit, but continuing to post weekly is just going to make things worse.
> 
> I’m gonna see how far I can get in the next week or so. If I manage to crank out a few more chapters, updates will resume as normal on the 15th. If not, it'll be the week after. I very easily could need more time, but that's what I'm aiming for. 
> 
> Even if it takes me a little bit to get back on my feet, I swear this story isn’t going to be abandoned for months. I’ll be back pretty soon- I hope you stick around <3


	9. Jesse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah i. i have nothing to say for myself. i think i'm back on track now though.

We tail the thief as closely as we dare. At first, we’re highly cautious, continuing to duck behind wide mushrooms and higher bits of the uneven ground, but it soon becomes apparent that the strange man isn’t too concerned with his surroundings. He strolls confidently across the spongey grey ground, keeping a very direct pace. He knows where he’s headed, even if we don’t.

But _how?_

If he knew how to get directly to one or two of the portals we’d been through, I could see that. Maybe he’d been through those worlds before. But this? Knowing the precise location of enough portals to beat us to them _every time_? This was too many. There was something we didn’t know about yet. 

And what was that _thing_ that he dug out of the ground? I hadn’t gotten anything even close to a good look at it, other than the dull purple glow it had.

The mysteries just keep piling up, and I don’t like it. I’m practically bursting to voice these questions aloud, to frame them clearer in my mind, but there’s no way to do it while we’re in stealth mode.

Gradually, the sky brightens more and more, fading from pale dawn to morning. It suddenly hits me- I’ve been gone from my world for at least a full day, maybe more. My friends will have no idea of where I’ve gone, and they must be worried to death by now.

I frown at the ground as I walk, following Aiden absent-mindedly. No, there’s no way I can go back to tell them. Although I can identify our home portal easy enough, I’m not willing to leave without the Atlas. Plus, I can’t abandon Aiden in the chaos of the Portal Network.

As though he knows I was thinking about him, he slows slightly and nudges my arm. “You good?” he asks in an undertone.

I nod swiftly. “Fine. Do we have a plan? Should we just go for it, try to ambush him before he has a chance to get away?”

Aiden hesitates, looking ahead at the tall man again. Before he can reply, though, the thief suddenly stops walking, pausing abruptly in his tracks.

I duck on instinct, dropping to the ground. There’s a small rise between us and him, though I don’t know if we’ll be hidden enough if he turns. If we _do_ attack him soon, I’d rather have the advantage of surprise.

Aiden crouches beside me, but the thief hasn’t bothered to look around. He pulls a familiar yellow-and-blue book from his inventory, and I draw in a deep breath.

“That’s _my_ magical artifact, you prick.” I mutter under my breath. After all the shit I went through to get it, the idea of some scumbag burglar using it infuriates me.

The thief starts up again, his pace just as confident as before. Aiden is up and moving just as quickly, and I swiftly go with him.

There’s a large hill up ahead, and our thief appears to be heading right for it. As I watch, he abruptly turns, ducking into the entrance of a cave at the base of the hill that I hadn’t previously seen.

I pick up speed, hurrying towards the cavern. If we corner him now, this could all be over very quickly.

As soon as I step into the cave, I know it’s not going to be that simple. The cave isn’t a giant one, and I can easily see a muted purple glow shining from further in. _The exit portal_.

I don’t waste any time, once again not even bothering to check if Aiden’s with me. My boots are loud on the stone, but I don’t care. He’s not getting away that easily. Not again.

“Aiden, come on!” I call, as loudly as I dare, and I faintly hear him following as we run deeper in. The wide mouth of the cavern soon narrows into a tunnel, and soon enough, there it is.

“Ah, Notchdammit.” Aiden mutters, beginning to slow.

I reach back and grab his wrist. “No time! Let’s go!”

I bolt through the portal, all but dragging him with me. The bluish-violet light swirls around us for a few moments, and then we’re back in the dim hall of the Network.

Glancing around wildly, I quickly see the thief. He’s standing just a little further away, with the Atlas open and glowing in his hands. There’s a stream of bright, colour-flecked light flowing from it and into a portal with a brilliant dark-red center.

Unfortunately, he sees us right at the same time. He snaps the magical book shut, following the stream of light into the portal. Aiden and I charge after him, and he disappears into the red gateway just a heartbeat after the thief.

I slam on the brakes right before I go through as well. I take a moment to look at the portal frame, and a slight smile immediately takes over my face. We’ve got him now.

And then I’m through, my sight fading into red swirls and the familiar whooshing portal sound flooding my ears.   
A few seconds later, I’m falling, and I barely manage to get my bearings in time to land on my feet rather than having my face smushed into the red sand.

It doesn’t do me much good, though, because I barely have time to adjust to my surroundings before the thief practically _throws_ Aiden into me. I shout in surprise, losing my balance and toppling over. I jump back to my feet quickly, but the man has already taken off running. Even without a Potion of Speed, he’s fast.

I turn, offering a hand to Aiden as he scrambles back up, glowering. “What happened?” I inquire.

“Came through. Fall took me off-guard again. He attacked, we struggled for a moment. You came through, he overpowered me and knocked us both down.” he summarizes as he allows me to pull him up.

“Are you alright?” I ask.

He rolls his shoulders, then adjusts his jacket tied around his waist. “Fine enough. Let’s go.” 

We take off running, our feet kicking up sand. It’s uncomfortably warm in the bright sunlight, and I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to do a full sprint. The thief is at just enough of a distance to make things complicated- too far for us to plausibly catch him, and too close for him to shake us off.

I notice that we’re more or less following the white-sand trail that I know leads gradually to Crown Mesa. _Good,_ I think. If he’s headed that way, he won’t be able to get through the exit portal without trouble.

“I…know…this world.” I tell Aiden after a few moments, my words matching the time of my pounding feet. I have a lot of skills, but I’m _not_ a runner, by any measure.

“Yeah? Is it a dangerous one?” he asks. His words come smoother, though I doubt he’ll be able to keep up this pace for much longer than me.

“Not anymore.” I say. “We might…be able…to get some help.” And we’ll certainly need it. Now that our mysterious thief knows we’re onto him, we won’t be able to get away with any more sneaking around. We need to stop him, and soon.

We continue the chase for a few minutes more, getting further into the mesa. The gap between us and the thief hasn’t changed, and I’m beginning to tire. With my armour, the heat of the midday sun, and my lack of running skill, I just can’t keep this up.

Suddenly, the thief swerves, heading away from the road to a different part of the mesa. Aiden doesn’t hesitate a moment, hurtling after him with a sudden burst of speed.

I see a glint of reflection as the tall man pulls a potion bottle from his inventory, pausing just long enough to down the contents. And just like that, he’s off like a shot, the Potion of Speed taking an immediate effect and giving him the boost he needs to get far out of our reach.

Aiden lets out a frustrated shout, coming to a stop and stamping his foot in the orange sand. “I almost had him!” he snaps.

I quickly catch up, and nudge his shoulder sympathetically. “It’s okay. You did better than me.” I tell him. He just glares in the direction that the thief disappeared, not seeming the slightest bit reassured.

To be honest, I’m mildly surprised at his dedication to catching this guy. If I was in his shoes, I wouldn’t be so determined. Sure, the thief beat him up pretty badly back in the two-moons world and that’s always worth a grudge, but it’s not like he has the same motive as me to get the Atlas back. It looks more and more like he really did mean it when he said he wanted to help.

He glances down at me, the tension gradually leaving his body. “What now? You said you knew this world…is there any way to catch up to him?”

“I think so. We need to keep heading up _that_ way- there’s some people in a nearby town that I know can help us out.” I say, pointing to where the white-sand road continues.

“Good. We could probably use some allies right about now.” he murmurs.

We continue along the road, at a walk this time. The towering cliffs, striped with clay in an assortment of warm, earthy colours, are strangely familiar considering I was only here once, and six months ago at that. I know we’re getting close to the town now, and I’m starting to get excited. I want to see how it’s changed since PAMA was defeated, and I’m especially looking forward to seeing Ivor again.

Aiden doesn’t say anything, examining the mesa scenery with mild interest. It’s rather strange to see him so quiet- when I knew him in the past, he was always a loud, boisterous person, voicing every grumpy thought that crossed his mind.

I guess six months of sitting alone in a prison cell will change that, though.

The thought of that suddenly makes me feel sad. Although he did technically deserve it, the whole experience has obviously changed him a lot. And if what he said about not remembering the exact events is true… _did_ he truly have it coming?

When he explained it while we were hiding in the cave, he certainly seemed to think he did. I was surprised at the weight of his voice when he’d told me, the guilt it carried even as he pled his innocence. It was almost unsettling, how much he’d changed.

Almost.

“So…with your knowledge on the Portal Network…what do you think our lovely friend is after? He’s obviously got _some_ nefarious goal in mind.” Aiden asks, dragging me abruptly out of my thoughts. 

I sigh aggrievedly. “I don’t _know_. Nothing we’ve seen about him so far makes any sense.”

“If you _had_ to guess. Just say anything.” Aiden prompts. His tone is serious, but I look up and see a hint of mirth in his pale eyes. 

“I literally don’t know. I could see why he’d steal the Atlas- it’s a really cool magical thingy, and important to anyone who might want to navigate the Network. But the way he knows where the exit portals are? The weird purple thing in the Mushroom world? I don’t have a clue. This guy’s just too much of a wildcard.” I say honestly.

He lets out a huff of breath. “Yeahhh…it’s all pretty weird. Speaking as someone who doesn’t know shit about this whole thing to begin with.”

We turn a corner around one of the cliffs, and just like that, the beginnings of the town come into view. It’s much like I remember, the little buildings perched on top of a colourful plateau.

“Whoa. That’s the town you meant?” Aiden asks with wide eyes.

I grin at his surprised expression, then quicken my steps, gesturing for him to follow suit. “Yep. Welcome to Crown Mesa.” 


End file.
